


Domain of Friendship

by Cold_Bolt



Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Gen, Minor Violence, Original Character(s), minor blood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-15
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-09-08 20:18:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 39,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8859577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cold_Bolt/pseuds/Cold_Bolt
Summary: When you can't remember the last several hours, all your weapons and armor are gone, and you're so completely lost that even the moon looks strange, you're probably in trouble. When none of those things is your biggest worry because you suddenly look like a horse that lost a fight with a box of crayons, you're clear to engage panic stations.





	1. Episode 1-1

The first thing Scarlet Lombardia noticed as she awoke was the fog filling her brain, as though she had taken a blow to the head.

"Unh..." she groaned, bringing a hand to her head as the world slowly swam into focus. Soft moonlight bathed the land around her, revealing the gently rolling hills on which she now lay. This immediately struck her as strange, but her mind was still too sluggish to devote any resources to recalling why that was... and before long, this matter had already given way for a rather more pressing one.

The second thing she noticed was that the hand she'd raised wasn't a hand at all.

"W-What sorcery is this...?"

A hoof. For whatever reason, she now found herself staring at a hoof, of which a cursory glance at her body revealed her to have four. As the glance gradually became a stare, she soon found four legs accompanying the hooves, a long body covered in red fur, a tail the exact same shade of sky blue as her hair... and, perhaps most curious of all, a strange mark on her hindquarters in the shape of a shooting star. All together, it gave her the impression of having been turned into some sort of horse-like creature.

With a moment's concentration, she conjured up a small cloud of bubbles and watched as they drifted away on the breeze. At least her magic still worked.

The longer she spent attempting to process all this, the less sense it made. A dream, perhaps? The dull ache in her head seemed to suggest otherwise. Her next guess might have been magic, but this was far too elaborate to be a simple illusion... and anyone outside of ten years old knew that transfiguration spells only worked on non-living things. As she climbed awkwardly up on all fours, she quickly deduced she wouldn't be puzzling this out by herself.

The third thing she noticed was that she wasn't alone.

Two figures lay sprawled out on the hill beside her, their strangely equine features somehow both familiar and alien. Was this part of the trick? Of this, at the very least, she knew one way to be certain.

"Tank? I think you may want to get up."

Sure enough, one of the figures stirred, emitting a groan as he turned over on the ground. "Mmf... It's still dark, though. Can't it wait till morning...?"

"I really must insist." Scarlet stepped forward, now standing over the figure that had spoken. "I promise you will find out why in fairly short order."

"Alright, alright... I'm up," the figure insisted, managing at least to prop himself up using his forelegs as he turned toward Scarlet. "Right, so what's got you all WHAT IN THE - "

Alexander Abrams - better known by the nickname 'Tank' - scrambled to a standing position in alarm as he caught sight of the strange creature towering over him. Several seconds passed as he gave her a quizzical stare. "...Waaait a sec. Blue hair and a big red ribbon... Scarlet, is that supposed to be you?"

Scarlet rubbed her neck. "I believe so, at least. I should confess I am not entirely certain..."

Tank chuckled. "What happened to you? You look like a baby horse that lost a fight with a box of crayons."

"Judging by these proportions, I think _pony_ would be a more accurate term," Scarlet suggested, glancing backward once again at her peculiar new body.

Tank quirked an eyebrow. "Right, because that's what needed clarification."

As she turned back toward him, Scarlet gave Tank a knowing smirk. "In any case, I would not be so quick to joke. You may want to have a look at yourself."

"Huh? What do you - oh." It was only at this point that Tank noticed he'd been standing on all fours the entire time, which prompted him to spend the next few moments looking himself over. "Well then. I'm naked, covered in green fur, and someone drew a weird tattoo of a shield on my butt. It's everything I always wanted," he concluded, rolling his eyes.

Having already gone through the same process herself, Scarlet could only giggle.

"Hey, don't laugh," Tank warned. "You'll be poking someone's eye out with that horn before long, mark my words."

"Horn?" Scarlet blinked, raising a hoof to her forehead. Sure enough, it had apparently sprouted a horn that felt surprisingly sharp. "How curious... I wonder what distinction was drawn that gave one of us a horn, but not the other?"

"Uh, hang on a sec." Tank pointed a hoof at the third figure on the hill. "If you're you, and I'm me... then is that who I think it is?"

The two exchanged glances before approaching slowly.

Tank gave the nearly motionless figure a gentle nudge. "Uh... hey, Miri? You might wanna wake up. Something weird is going on."

Mirielle Marcus slowly extended all four limbs in an exaggerated stretch and gave a silent yawn that seemed to last almost an entire minute. Vision still hazy from her interrupted nap, she could barely make out the strange pair of figures standing over her in the dim light; it almost looked like one of them was red and the other green... but that would be silly, wouldn't it?

One moment of rubbing the sleep from her eyes later, Miri found herself staring at a pair of brightly-colored ponies.

"Good morning, Mirielle. Please do not be - "

Before Scarlet could even finish her sentence, Miri's eyes went wide as dinner plates, and she leaped several feet into the air in surprise.

Tank sighed and briefly closed his eyes. "Well, so much for 'try not to freak out.' At least we... wait, what?"

As his eyes reopened, Tank realized Miri wasn't in front of him... because she hadn't yet returned to the ground.

As the other two looked on in a mixture of confusion and awe, the steady beat of Mirielle's wings kept her hovering a little ways above their heads. It took several seconds for this realization to strike Miri herself, at which point she began flailing her forelegs in an attempt to reach for her friends below.

"Careful, careful!" Scarlet advised. "We will catch you if you fall! Try deep breaths; perhaps calming your nerves will slow them down a little."

In, out. In, out. Though Miri could still feel her heart racing, it seemed to be working - her wingbeats began to slow a little and, before long, lower her gently to the ground.

Tank scratched his head. "Well, that sure is different."

Sitting back on her haunches, Mirielle wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead and began waving her forelegs in a very particular pattern.

Scarlet winced as she realized what was wrong. "...Oh dear. Mirielle, would you mind trying that once more?"

About halfway through her second attempt, Mirielle too caught onto the problem.

"...She can't sign." Tank, however, was the one to give it voice. "In these weird bodies, we don't have hands. She can't sign to us without them."

Mirielle spent the next several seconds staring at her hooves before looking up at her companions, tears welling in her eyes.

Scarlet stepped forward and pulled Mirielle into a brief hug. "There, there, dear... do not fret. We will improvise until such time as we find a way to return to normal, I promise."

"Totally," Tank agreed. "Besides, look - you've got wings now! That's... kind of like a trade-off, right?"

Mirielle blinked as she turned her head to examine the wings folded neatly on her back. Standing up on all fours once more, she took a step back, hesitating for a moment as though unsure of how to proceed. Before long, however, her wings flared to life... and with no further ado, she took off into the night sky, soaring over the hills as though it was what she'd been born to do.

Tank sat back and gave an exhausted sigh. "Geez, is this for real...?"

"It would seem so," Scarlet admitted. "We ought to get our bearings, at the very least; I recognize none of this terrain. Would you bring me the map and compass?"

Tank scratched his head again. "I _would_ , yeah, but there's a problem. Our stuff is kind of, um, gone."

" _Gone?_ " Scarlet's heart skipped a beat. "All of it? The rations, the flares, the emergency radio?"

Tank crossed his forelegs. "All of it. Including my sword, Miri's medkit... and our _clothes_ , for no adequately explored reason. Whoever or whatever did this to us made absolutely sure we'd be as stranded as possible when we woke up." He paused briefly for another sigh. "Come to think of it, I don't even remember what we were doing..."

Her earlier disorientation out of the way, Scarlet's mind began the task of tracing through her memory for any possible clues. "I seem to recall that we took a request from the notice board to investigate the old temple outside of town."

Tank's face lit up. "Oh yeah! Something about hearing weird noises, I think? I remember we picked it 'cause it sounded like something we could knock out in an afternoon, and my folks invited us to stop by for dinner while we were in town." His enthusiasm soon faded. "But... what happened? I swear I remember the drive over to the temple, but nothing after we got there."

Scarlet stared at the grass as though expecting it to yield the answers she sought. "My recollection is no better than yours..."

Mirielle chose that moment to land gracefully on the hill beside them, an excited smile beaming across her face.

At this, Scarlet perked up. "Mirielle, do you remember anything after we arrived at the temple before?"

Mirielle blinked, her gaze wandering this way and that as she racked her brain for answers. After several seconds, all she could do was shake her head sadly.

Tank took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay... okay, let me make sure I've got all this straight. One, we're completely lost. Two, literally all of our stuff is gone. Three, we're missing a huge chunk of time somewhere between leaving town and waking up here. And four..." He paused briefly to give an impatient huff and stare incredulously at his hoof. "...for however much sense it makes, we have apparently been turned into ponies."

Scarlet nodded matter-of-factly. "An excellent summary."

"Ugh." Tank kicked a nearby rock in frustration and watched it roll over the grass. "That settles it then: this whole thing is patently absurd."

Mirielle looked up from staring at the strange heart-shaped emblem on her flank and nodded.

Scarlet placed a gentle hoof on Tank's shoulder. "Inclined as I am to agree as well - quite wholeheartedly, in fact - sitting here stewing over it will do us little good."

Tank slowly stood up. "Well... you're not wrong, but where do we start? We have no way of knowing where to go."

With a quick hop, Mirielle hovered a few feet in the air and pointed a hoof over the crest of the hill on which they had awoken. Following her cue, Scarlet and Tank trotted to its peak for a better look.

"Oh, there's a town way over there!" Tank's expression brightened once again. "Right, you probably saw it while you were flying around earlier! Maybe some locals can help us figure out what's going on."

"Then that will be our first objective," Scarlet declared.

With that, the trio set off down the hill in the direction of the distant town.


	2. Episode 1-2

"...Well, that sure raises a lot more questions than it answers, doesn't it?"

Scarlet, Tank, and Mirielle found themselves standing in the moonlight's shadow beneath a well-decorated oak tree, past which ponies of every size and color imaginable shuffled on their way toward a large cylindrical building in the center of town. Mirielle smiled as she watched them wander by, waving at any who happened to glance in her direction.

Scarlet rubbed the back of her neck. "Quite so. I think this all but confirms it..."

Tank quirked an eyebrow. "Care to share with the class?"

Scarlet's gaze turned skyward. "Before I do, have you had a look at the moon?"

"Huh? No, I was - oookay, that's... not normal," Tank declared. "Is that actually supposed to be the moon? It looks way too solid, and there's some kind of pattern on the surface that I can't quite make out..."

Scarlet nodded. "An unfamiliar landscape featuring an apparent civilization of sentient ponies, all under the light of a foreign moon... I can only conclude that we are no longer anywhere on Nexus."

Mirielle turned to stare incredulously at Scarlet.

"What." Tank merely blinked, unsure of how else to react. "Okay, but that's ridiculous though. We're nowhere near that level of technology, and even if we were, who would just drop three random people on another world for no apparent reason? And that's even ignoring the whole... pony thing." He lifted a forehoof and stared at it to illustrate the point.

Scarlet shook her head slowly and glanced over at Mirielle, who had resumed waving to the townsfolk. "I can offer no insight into how it happened, but I have little doubt that we are much further from home than I initially suspected."

Tank sighed. "Right... well, I guess that means our next order of business ought to be - "

"GASP"

Startled by the sudden loud voice, the three whirled around to find an unfamiliar pink pony staring at them. Her mane was tall and poofy in untidy yet consistent curls, and she seemed to be positively beaming, as though she had seen nothing more delightful that evening than the three of them awkwardly gathered there beneath the tree.

"Omigosh omigosh omigosh! More new ponies!" She danced in place excitedly at this discovery, but soon came to a halt, her grand smile rapidly degrading into a frown. "Aww, but there isn't enough time before the Summer Sun Celebration for another welcoming party..." As though on a toggle switch, she perked back up almost immediately afterward. "I know! You'll just have to come with us for now, and we'll have the party after!" She punctuated this declaration with another beaming grin, leaning so far forward that she nearly bumped noses with them.

The three companions simply stared for a moment, entirely unsure of how to react to so outlandish a greeting. Thankfully, they were spared the trouble of doing so by the appearance of a second pony, emerging from a doorway in the trunk of the tree. This one was purple, her very neatly kept mane parted in the front by a horn not much unlike Scarlet's, and a small reptilian-looking creature sitting perched on her back.

"Sigh... You seriously do this to everypony, don't you?" The purple pony's horn glowed softly for a moment, resulting in the door shutting behind her. "If they _are_ new in town, I'm sure they're only staying for the Summer Sun Celebration before getting on their way, so there's no need to make such a fuss."

"Er...?" Scarlet looked confused for a moment, prompting Mirielle to nudge her with a hoof. "Ah, yes, of course! We came a long way to join in on the festivities."

The pink one seemed satisfied with this, and began bouncing up and down as though her legs were made of elastic. "Great! My name's Pinkie Pie! And this here is Twilight Sparkle. She's new in town, just like you! I bet we're all gonna be really good friends!"

"And I'm Spike!" The small reptile on Twilight's back stood up, pointing at himself with his thumb.

"And he's Spike!" Pinkie echoed the introduction for good measure. "So what are your names?"

Despite still being somewhat taken aback by the unorthodox introduction, Tank cleared his throat. "Right, uh. My name is Ale-mmph." Before he could finish, Scarlet had planted her hoof directly over his mouth.

"Would you pardon us for just a moment, please?" Scarlet gave a pleasant smile before reeling Tank and Mirielle close enough to whisper, turning away from their new acquaintances for a moment. "I would not advise revealing our identities here. We ought to maintain a low profile to avoid arousing suspicion or disrupting local affairs until we have a better working knowledge of this world."

Even in a whisper, the disdain in Tank's voice was clearly audible. "So you want us to come up with names that'll blend in with 'Pinkie' and 'Sparkle' over there, is that it?" Scarlet nodded, and the three of them turned back around.

"Ah, apologies. Now then, my name is, er..." Scarlet paused for a moment, struggling for whatever inspiration she could find. "Scarlet... Star...beam. Yes. And this is, ah..." She stared at Tank for a moment. "Tank... Buster."

Tank shrugged. "It's as good a name as any, I guess."

Scarlet nodded and turned to Mirielle, happily floating beside her. "And we also have, ah..."

Tank blurted out the first thing to come to mind. "Waterwing!"

Mirielle's smile faded, her wingbeats gradually slowing and lowering her back to the ground. Once landed, she fixed Tank with a blank stare. In response, he offered her a shrug and as disarming a smile as he could manage.

Twilight gave another impatient sigh. "There, we're all nice and introduced. Now can we get moving? We're going to be late."

Pinkie took the lead, bouncing along happily with Tank and Mirielle close behind.

Tank sighed once again and lowered his voice. "Look, I'm sorry if you're upset. It was just the first thing I thought of, since we couldn't really play off your actual name. Plus, water wings are for keeping people safe, and that's kinda your job too, so it seemed fitting enough..."

Mirielle smiled and briefly gave Tank's neck a gentle nuzzle.

Scarlet, meanwhile, noticed Twilight behind her staring rather intently at the moon and slowed a little to let her catch up. "Miss Sparkle, was it? Is something the matter?"

Twilight gave her an oddly meaningful look. "I guess we're going to find out."


	3. Episode 1-3

The three companions found themselves standing amid a fairly dense crowd of ponies in what they assumed to be the town hall. The chatter was fairly light, most instead waiting eagerly for the festivities to begin at any moment.

Well, save perhaps one notable exception.

"Are you excited? I hope you're excited, 'cause I'm excited! But I'm always excited whenever there are this many ponies all in one place, 'cause it usually means a party and parties are super fun!" Pinkie Pie's rapid-fire chattering was easily audible above the low din. Having rather quickly gotten into the spirit of things despite still lacking any context for the event, "Waterwing" nodded happily in response before letting her gaze wander around at all the decorations hung from the railings and ceiling.

Tank looked over his shoulder for a moment before turning to Scarlet, his voice low. "I've already planned our escape route in case this turns out to be some kind of weirdo ritual. The hors d'oeuvres and the punch bowl will almost certainly end up as collateral damage, but that's a price I'm willing to pay."

Scarlet quirked an eyebrow and smirked. "Do be careful with that flippant attitude of yours, 'Tank Buster.' One might accuse you of intending not to take the event seriously."

Tank rolled his eyes. "Whatever, 'Starbeam.' Heavens forbid one of us keeps track of what's actually going on here, and if I have to turn up the snark to do it, I will."

A chorus of songbirds conducted by a yellow pegasus interrupted their banter with a brief fanfare as a spotlight descended on the stage, illuminating a beige pony wearing wide-rimmed glasses. "Welcome, fillies and gentlecolts, to this year's Summer Sun Celebration!" This was met with cheers from the audience. "As many of you already know, our radiant princess has elected to hold this year's celebration of the longest day of the year right here in our fair Ponyville! As such, in my capacity as mayor, I am honored to introduce to you... bringer of the sun and moon, champion of harmony across all of Equestria... Princess Celestia!"

The songbird fanfare returned as the curtain parted, a spotlight at the ready to shine upon... an empty balcony.

"Uh." Tank quirked an eyebrow. "...This is bad, right?"

The mayor stood frozen for a moment, visibly confused, before looking over the crowd nervously. "We seem to be experiencing some minor difficulties, everypony. Please wait warmly for just a moment..."

"She's gone!" declared a white unicorn from up on the balcony, prompting the entire assembly to gasp in surprise.

"Oh no..." came Twilight's fearful whisper.

A strange sparkling mist began leaking in through the windows and gathering on the balcony, looking almost like the distilled essence of the night sky. As they watched, the mist rose at once and parted, revealing itself to be the mane and tail of a tall, imposing jet black pony. She wore a helm and breastplate of a cool blue, the latter sporting a crescent-shaped emblem identical to the one on her flank.

Tank took a careful step back, glancing between his comrades beside him and the strange pony on the balcony. "I'm getting the sneaking suspicion this isn't the princess we were expecting..."

"Oh, it has been _ever_ so long since I got to see my beloved subjects..." The intruder's voice was clear and deep, and carried an air of great authority.

"You give Princess Celestia back right now!" demanded a colorful pegasus a little ways behind Scarlet. As she turned to look, the pegasus prepared to take to the air in challenge, but quickly found herself immobile; an orange pony had taken hold of the pegasus's tail with her teeth to prevent her from confronting the intruder.

The dark pony gave a bemused chuckle. "Why, it's almost as though nopony remembers me after a thousand years of imprisonment! If the ponies of this age can't be bothered to do their homework, it's no wonder you all seem so surprised."

Twilight took a step forward, scowling up at the balcony. "I did! And I know who you are, Nightmare Moon! If you think you can cast eternal night over Equestria, you've got another thing coming!" This declaration elicited a collective gasp from the crowd.

The intruder chuckled again. "My, what a rebel you are! But I'm afraid you're sadly out of your depth, my little pony. I hope you all remember this day well, for it was your last - henceforth, the night will last forever!" At this, she gave in to triumphant laughter, her starry mist swirling in a great vortex overhead.

"I think not!"

Nightmare Moon's theatrics ebbed. The crowd parted, the better to see who had spoken... and standing in the center of the room, her two companions still by her side, was Scarlet. She fixed the intruder with an indignant stare.

"Wh - " Tank sighed incredulously. "Maintain a low profile, you said. No disrupting local affairs, you said. Are you _serious_ right now?!"

Scarlet's eyes flashed, still fixed on those of Nightmare Moon. "I will not suffer such an unscrupulous ruffian and her delusions of grandeur endangering innocents in my presence."

"Oh, is that so?" Nightmare Moon's smirk returned. "I didn't mean to ruffle any feathers. If you have any complaints, then by all means, bring them directly to me!"

"Gladly!" Scarlet's horn glowed with a bright pink aura as she prepared a spell...

...only to have it dissipate a second later, her concentration broken by the sudden appearance of Waterwing hovering in her line of fire. "W-What?"

Waterwing shook her head at Scarlet, gesturing toward the crowd. As Scarlet's gaze followed along, Waterwing's meaning was soon clarified by all the apprehensive faces - they couldn't challenge the intruder with such a crowd of ponies nearby without putting them in danger. Still glaring daggers up at the balcony, Scarlet took a step back, prompting Nightmare Moon to give the trio a derisive sneer.

"Guards, seize this villain immediately!"

The mayor, however, apparently lacked similar qualms about engaging the enemy so close to the crowd. At her command, a trio of winged soldiers nearby took to the air toward Nightmare Moon, only to be quickly struck down by a fierce whirlwind emanating from the vortex overhead. Before anyone else could join the fight, the intruder dissolved back into her starry mist and burst through the front door.

Scarlet charged after in an attempt to give chase, but by the time she made it out the door, Nightmare Moon had already disappeared into the night. Tank Buster and Waterwing caught up with her a few seconds later.

Tank scanned the sky briefly. "I'm guessing she got away?"

Scarlet sighed and turned to her companions. "I realize just how much this is to ask of you, but - "

"We'll do it."

Scarlet blinked. "Er...?"

"You were about to ask if we'll help them beat this Nightmare Moon character." Tank smirked and glanced at Waterwing, who nodded her agreement. "I mean, I still think this whole thing is incredibly silly... but if these ponies are actually in trouble, it's our duty to help, right?"

Scarlet smiled and gave a quiet sigh of relief. Before she could say anything further, however, something purple galloped past the three of them at full speed.

Tank scratched his head. "Is it just me, or did that look like Twilight?"

Waterwing hovered in front of him and nodded intently, beckoning the two of them with one forehoof and pointing after Twilight with the other. Tank and Scarlet exchanged brief glances before nodding back to Waterwing, and the three took off down the road to catch up with their new friend.


	4. Episode 1-4

“Elements, elements… ugh! How am I supposed to stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony?” Twilight Sparkle ran back and forth through the library, frantically flipping through book after book in search of clues. Absorbed in her task as she was, she failed to notice several pairs of hoofsteps behind her.

“Perhaps this might be of use?” Scarlet Starbeam’s magic held aloft a dark red book with a fancy gold trim along the binding.

Twilight immediately yanked it from Scarlet’s magical grip and stared at the cover for a moment before looking up at the trio of ponies in front of her. “‘The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide.’ Where did you find this?”

Waterwing hovered beside one of the bookcases, pointing at a shelf labeled with a large block letter E.

Twilight blinked. “…Oh.” Turning her attention back to the book, she flipped forward several pages, skimming the text as quickly as she could. “Okay, let’s see… embodiment of harmonious conduct… manifest as small jewels or spheres… oh, here we go! 'It is unknown exactly how many Elements there are, but five have thus far been discovered: Generosity, Honesty, Laughter, Kindness, and Loyalty. The last known location of these Elements is the Castle of the Two Sisters… located deep inside the Everfree Forest…” Her tone quickly turned from eager to fearful as she reached the end of the passage.

“Oh, macguffin hunting! Well that’s straightforward enough.” Tank Buster turned first to Waterwing and then to Scarlet, both of whom met his smile with their own. “We’re pretty familiar with the concept. So where’s this forest then? The sooner we get these elements, the sooner we can put this whole thing to bed. Uh…” He glanced out the window at the dark sky above. “…No pun intended.”

Twilight winced. “I don’t think you understand… The Everfree Forest is - ”

“Hey! We’re coming too!”

A commanding voice from behind the trio announced the presence of no less than five more ponies. As Scarlet and her companions spun around, they quickly found themselves face-to-face with several vaguely familiar faces from the earlier ceremony. The colorful pegasus stood at the fore of the group, flanked by the orange pony who had held her tail and the unicorn from the balcony. Picking up the rear was none other than Pinkie Pie, followed by a yellow pegasus that took Scarlet a moment to recognize as the conductor of the choir. The trio gave the new group a decent berth as they entered the library.

“You know what’s going on here, don’t you?” The orange pony adjusted her hat as she spoke, fixing Twilight with a serious gaze.

Twilight took a deep breath. “I’ll explain on the way if you’re coming along, but we need to move quickly. I don’t know how long it’ll be before Nightmare Moon finds out what we’re doing.”

“For all we know, she already has.” Scarlet stepped forward. “We ought to proceed under that assumption. But yes, time is at a premium; we would do well to leave immediately.”

“Um, wait…” A small voice came from the yellow pegasus at the back of the group. “Who, um… who are they…?” Her eyes, half-hidden by her bright pink mane, darted back and forth between the three strange ponies she didn’t recognize.

Twilight sighed. “Okay, quick introductions from everypony, and then we really seriously need to get moving.”

The orange pony spoke up first, smiling at the trio and tipping her hat. “Name’s Applejack! Proud owner of Sweet Apple Acres! Nice to meet you.”

The colorful pegasus quickly flew in as large a loop as the confines of the library would allow before coming to a stop in front of Scarlet. “I’m Rainbow Dash! Best flier in all of Equestria, at your service.”

“Why, I remember you three from earlier,” declared the white unicorn. “Very bold of you, standing up to Nightmare Moon like that, if only briefly.” Her deep purple mane seemed to flow like water with each movement of her head. “You can call me Rarity, darlings~”

Pinkie Pie bounced forward. “Hi, I’m Pinkie!”

Scarlet smirked. “Yes, Pinkie. We met earlier, if you recall.”

“I know!” The poofy pink pony beamed, her curly tail swishing happily.

Several pairs of eyes soon came to rest on the quiet yellow pegasus. “Oh, well…” She shifted uncomfortably, almost seeming to shrink beneath all the attention. “I’m… um… F-Fluttershy…” She seemed to be avoiding eye contact at any cost, and her voice was barely audible above the ambient noise from outside.

Scarlet’s horn glowed blue for a moment as rings of shining light surrounded the deep red pony, quickly rising into the air and fading from sight. Satisfied with her display, she turned to address the new ponies. “I am Scarlet Starbeam, expert magician and ally of justice.” She punctuated this sentence with a proud grin.

Looking somewhat bemused by his comrade’s flashy introduction, Tank took a step forward and shrugged. “Name’s Tank Buster. I punch bad guys in the face, I guess.”

Waterwing took her opportunity to fly in circles over everyone’s heads for a moment before landing gently beside Scarlet. With bright eyes and a broad smile, she gave the group before her an enthusiastic wave.

Rainbow Dash tilted her head. “Uh…?”

Scarlet ruffled Waterwing’s mane affectionately. “This is Waterwing. Her energetic demeanor belies her skill with a first aid kit.”

The five new arrivals stood still, offering a variety of expressions in response to the introductions of the three unfamiliar ponies. Applejack in particular quirked an eyebrow. “Those are, uh…”

“…very lovely names indeed!” Rarity stepped forward with an awkward smile, doing her best to cover for her friend.

Tank rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath. “Right, like literally being called 'Rainbow’ is any better. Seriously, what is with these names…?”

Twilight pointed at each pony in turn. “…six, seven, eight. Alright, that’s everypony. Now, we can’t waste any more time, so let’s get moving!”

“Yeah! Let’s do it!” Rainbow Dash excitedly threw her hoof into the air. “Wait, so where are we going again?”

* * *

“The Everfree Forest?!”

A series of incredulous voices cried out as the crew stood at the edge of a dense, ominous-looking wood.

“Whee, let’s go!” Pinkie, however, was as bubbly as could be, and trotted to the front of the group.

Twilight sighed. “I shouldn’t have let the rest of you get roped into this. I’d really rather find the Elements by myself.”

Scarlet sat back for a moment, fiddling with the ribbon in her mane. “Working together in a party will both bolster our chance of success and limit casualties. It is in the best interests of all that we should accompany you.”

Applejack nodded in agreement. “Yup! Besides, we’re not letting any friend of ours head into any creepy forests alone. We’re sticking to you like caramel on a candy apple!” With that, she and the rest of the group made their way down the path into the forest. With another sigh, Twilight followed along at the rear.

“So what’s supposed to be dangerous about this place, anyway?” Tank found himself looking this way and that, peering out over a nearby cliff. “You know, beside the fact that I can barely see five yards ahead.”

“It ain’t natural,” Applejack explained. “Folks say it don’t work the same as the rest of Equestria. The plants and animals living here take care of themselves, with nopony feeding them or watching over them.”

From beside her, Rarity gave an unnerved shudder. “What a dreadful place…”

Tank, however, scoffed. “Wait, are you kidding? A self-sustaining biome sounds perfectly natural from where I’m standing. If that’s really what everyone is worried about, then this is gonna be a walk in the WAUGH”

Without warning, the ground beneath the nine of them crumbled to dust under their hooves. The three pegasi immediately took to the air in reflex, but quickly realized that the rest of their friends were skidding uncontrollably down the cliffside.

“Fluttershy! Waterwing! MOVE!” Rainbow Dash commanded before diving downward at top speed.

“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!” Fluttershy glanced over at Waterwing, who nodded, and the two of them dove after Rainbow. In a flash, three of the plummeting ponies found three pairs of wings slowing their descent dramatically. Unfortunately, this did not account for everyone.

“Scarlet!” Tank’s voice rang in Scarlet’s ears as she tumbled toward the rapidly approaching canyon floor below. Closing her eyes in her best attempt at concentration, the ground beneath her glowed a magical green just as -

Fwoomf.

A patch of tall, shaggy grass had sprung up just before Scarlet landed, and now hid her from view. As the pegasi and their passengers landed, the six of them stared at it nervously, awaiting whatever sign of Scarlet’s fate was to come. Sure enough, a dizzy red unicorn came stumbling out of the grass, to a collective sigh of relief from the rest.

Scarlet shook the disorientation from her head and brushed some dust from her ribbon. “Well! I suppose any landing one survives is preferable to the alternative.” It was then that she noticed everyone’s attention had drifted to something overhead. “Hm?”

Twilight dangled from the cliffside high above, clinging to Applejack for dear life. As the seven of them watched, Twilight suddenly released her grip and plummeted toward the canyon floor, screaming the whole way.

“What is she even doing?!” Tank dashed forward, ready to make whatever attempt he could think of to catch her, but soon skidded to a stop; in the time it had taken him to react, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had already snagged her from the air, and were now gently lowering her to the ground. Applejack, meanwhile, deftly scaled her way down the cliffside using a series of narrow ledges just large enough for the purpose.

Tank gave the newly rescued Twilight an incredulous look. “Okay, I’ll admit that took some serious guts, but what in the void possessed you to just let go like that?”

Twilight looked over her shoulder at Applejack for a moment before responding. “I guess maybe I’m learning a thing or two about trust.”

Tank scratched his head for a moment and opened his mouth to speak, but settled for simply shrugging instead.

Scarlet stepped forward. “If everyone is still in one piece…”

Twilight nodded. “We haven’t a moment to spare. Let’s go, everypony!”

* * *

“…and then we were all like, WHOOSH, and caught you right in the nick of time!” Still riding the rush of excitement, Rainbow Dash did a midair roll over Twilight’s head and landed beside her, beaming with pride.

“Yes, Rainbow, I haven’t forgotten. That was less than ten minutes ago.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “And I’m very grateful, but we really - ”

“…ought to identify the creature up ahead, as it appears to be blocking our path.” Scarlet pointed ahead of them at the creature in question, which gave an irritated growl in response. It resembled a lion in most respects, down to the mane and paws, but also sported a pair of leathery bat-like wings and a long, segmented tail ending in a likely venomous stinger.

Twilight recoiled in alarm. “A manticore!”

“A what?” Tank quirked an eyebrow and glanced over at Waterwing, who simply shrugged and shook her head. “It just looks like somebody glued wings and a tail to a lion. Whatever, let’s just beat it up and move on.” He turned to Scarlet. “Alright, what’s the plan?”

“Um, wait…” came a small voice from behind them, but no one seemed to notice.

Scarlet straightened her ribbon. “I will attack from the front to draw its attention. Tank, stay against the wall there and wait to flank. Waterwing, maintain a height of at least - ”

“YAAAAH!” Scarlet’s plan was interrupted by the cry of one Rainbow Dash as she took off like a bullet, aiming straight for the manticore, but was quickly knocked away by a quick swipe of its tail.

The rest of the group stared blankly for a few seconds, after which Tank sighed. “Or, y'know, we could just charge in blindly instead. That’s kind of like tactics, right?”

“Wait…!” the small voice again insisted. The manticore chose this moment to charge at the group at full speed, but as the rest of the ponies scattered, Rarity stood her ground and turned the attacker away with a sudden powerful kick to the face.

“Ha! Take that, you ruffian!” By this time, however, the manticore had already recovered from the blow, and let loose a furious roar right in Rarity’s face, eliciting from her a terrified “EEP!” and causing her to quickly retreat.

“Wait!” the voice commanded a third time, finally resulting in Waterwing whirling around to find Fluttershy standing there, her normally meek demeanor replaced with a rather uncharacteristic determination. “I have an idea. Cover me.” Waterwing blinked and tilted her head, but this earned her no further elaboration from Fluttershy in response. With a quick shrug, she nodded and took to the air, hovering several feet over Fluttershy’s head.

As the rest of the group looked on in confusion, the two pegasi approached the manticore slowly. The creature raised a clawed paw into the air and prepared to strike, but Fluttershy didn’t even flinch. Instead, she took a step forward and gently nuzzled the manticore’s other paw with her snout. “Shhh… it’s okay…” she whispered, causing the manticore to pause. After a moment, it seemed to find her nonthreatening enough to lower its claws, and instead turned over its other paw to reveal a large thorn embedded in it. “Oh, no, you poor thing!” she concluded, looking it over carefully. “This might hurt just a bit…” Grasping the thorn in her teeth, she yanked it out in one quick motion.

Waterwing winced as the manticore roared with pain, preparing to dive and pull Fluttershy away from the creature, but soon realized that it wasn’t angry; rather, Fluttershy giggled as it happily licked her mane. Satisfied that it seemed no longer inclined to fight, Waterwing wiped a bit of nervous sweat from her forehead and landed slowly a few feet past the manticore, motioning to the rest of the group to follow as she did so.

As the other ponies moved on ahead, Twilight, Scarlet, and Waterwing waited for a moment to let Fluttershy catch up, staring briefly at her disheveled mane.

Twilight quirked an eyebrow. “How did you know about the thorn?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “I didn’t! I just wanted to see if there was a way for us to avoid a fight. I think it’s better for everypony that way.” She brushed at her mane for a moment, only partially succeeding in straightening it. “I just needed a little backup first. Thank you for your help, Waterwing.” She offered a soft smile, and Waterwing nodded happily.

Scarlet rubbed at her neck. “Avoiding confrontation whenever possible is a policy I often give too little credit…”

Twilight spoke up again as the four of them trotted along behind the others. “Rock slides and manticores though… What else is this crazy forest going to throw at us tonight?”

Scarlet frowned. “I fear we may have your answer all too soon…”


	5. Episode 1-5

Nine ponies continued their trek through the forest, the moonlight casting an eerie glow over the damp foliage all around them.

“Ugh… My eyes need a rest from all this icky muck.” Rarity turned up her nose at the distasteful scenery, her eyes shifting from one soggy tree or moss-covered boulder to the next. As if on cue, the canopy overhead closed up, leaving the path ahead in near-complete darkness. “That wasn’t quite what I meant…”

Twilight frowned. “The castle could be right in front of our faces and we wouldn’t even know it.”

Tank quirked an eyebrow. “How is it that, between the nine of us, nobody thought to bring a flashlight into the spooky dark forest?” He took a deep breath and used it to let out a sigh. “Wait, I think I see moonlight up ahead. Is that a clearing?”

The party made their way toward it with more haste than care, but soon found themselves bunched together as Pinkie, the lead pony, had come to a sudden halt. Trembling, she pointed one hoof ahead of her at something standing in the center of the clearing.

“What is THAT?” she screeched.

A dark, imposing figure several meters tall towered over them from the center of the clearing. Backlit by the moon, its features were cast in shadow, save for a pair of ominous glowing eyes peering down at the group. It had numerous long, spindly arms stretching every which way, each ending in several haphazard needle-like claws. Though it stood perfectly still, its howling breath could be heard throughout the clearing.

“W-W-What do we do…?” Twilight shrank back, her entire body visibly trembling in abject terror. “I-I’m s-so scared I c-can’t move…”

“I’m not!” declared the bold voice of Rainbow Dash. Unfortunately, this came with the realization that her forelegs were wrapped firmly around Applejack. The latter, despite also shivering fearfully, gave Rainbow a sideways glance, causing the colorful pegasus to avert her gaze. “O-Okay, m-maybe a little…”

All nine ponies stood paralyzed with fear, clutching one another desperately for comfort or simply staring unblinkingly at the unknown figure watching them intently. For what seemed like an eternity, no one moved.

Then, slowly, one pony gingerly took a step forward.

“Tank…?” Gently cradling a terrified Fluttershy, Scarlet’s voice came in slow, measured breaths. “…what in the void are you doing…?”

Eyes focused solely on the task of maintaining eye contact with the figure, Tank took another shaky step toward it. “I don’t care what this thing is. We didn’t…” His voice caught in his throat for a moment. “We didn’t come all this way to… to give up now.” He glared at the figure indignantly. “I’m… I’m gonna punch it.”

“B-Be careful, Tank Buster!” Twilight bit her lip in apprehension as she watched him march slowly toward the figure, until he finally stood directly in front of it. In spite of the proximity, he still couldn’t tell just what it was he was looking at, but he couldn’t afford to back down now.

“Alright, you. Come and take your medicine.” Winding up one foreleg, Tank struck the figure as hard as he could with his hoof… resulting in a loud ‘clack.’

“…”

After several seconds had passed with no reaction from the figure, Tank let out a breath he hadn’t noticed he’d been holding. Blinking in bewilderment, he poked several more times; this 'figure’ seemed strangely hard and hollow. A careful step back placed him just beneath one of the lower arms, and with a short hop, he snagged one of the 'claws’ in his teeth and easily snapped it off, holding it in his mouth for a moment before spitting it to the ground. Turning back to the party behind him, his gaze met eight pairs of eyes staring at him intently, waiting with bated breath for his verdict.

Tank sighed. “This is a tree.”

It seemed to take a moment for this information to register, as at first no one spoke. Then, without warning, the clearing filled with the raucous giggling of a particular pink pony. “That’s… the funniest thing… I’ve heard all week!” Pinkie’s words came in between peals of laughter. “I was like, 'Oh my goodness, what is THAT?’ and you’re all like 'You silly, THAT’S A TREE!’” At this she collapsed to the ground in yet another fit of mirthful giggles.

At first the others simply stared at Pinkie, but her laughter quickly proved contagious, soon resulting in the entire pony party filling the clearing with their gleeful giggling.

“Haha… oh my goodness, I haven’t laughed that hard in forever.” Twilight wiped a tear from her eye. “I think we all needed that… Thanks, Pinkie Pie.”

Pinkie beamed. “Yupyup! Laughing always helps cheer me up when I’m nervous or scared! Or bored. Or confused. Or worried. Or frustrated. Or…” Her voice seemed to trail off as she pondered more examples.

“And you too, Tank Buster.” Twilight turned to Tank. “I don’t know why exactly that tree had us all spooked, but you beat it.”

Tank shrugged, trying his best to suppress a self-satisfied smirk. “I mean, all I did was punch it. That’s kinda my job right there.”

Applejack scratched her head. “What in tarnation was all that about, anyway?”

“Who cares?” Rainbow Dash was still grinning. “We’re not gonna let some dumb old tree stop us now. Let’s go!” With that, she took off for the far side of the clearing.

As the others moved on ahead, the three companions hung back for a moment.

“You two did notice that, I assume?” Scarlet glanced between her comrades for a moment. Waterwing met her look with a nod, but Tank merely blinked.

“Notice what? I didn’t… oh, wait.” He looked back over his shoulder at the tree. “Oh, now I see it. Yup, that’s a fear enchantment. Looks like you were right. Let’s go catch up with Twilight so we can warn her about - ”

“No.”

Tank stared at Scarlet for a moment before lifting a hoof to his face in irritation. “Okay, are you still on about this whole 'maintaining cover’ thing? I really don’t like the idea of keeping secrets from our allies just because you don’t want to explain to them why we can sense magic and they can’t.”

Scarlet gave a small sigh. “We cannot risk giving them any reason to doubt our loyalty if we want to see this through. I will not send innocent people off to a fight they cannot win.”

Tank gave a sigh that mimicked Scarlet’s. “Well, if you’re that sure they won’t trust us otherwise…”

Scarlet blinked, suddenly looking around. “Just a moment… where is - ?”

“Hey!” came the distant voice of Rainbow Dash, beside whom floated Waterwing. “What’s the holdup?”

Scarlet and Tank exchanged glances and shrugs before bolting across the clearing to catch up with the others.

* * *

“There, that ought to do it.” The glow upon Rarity’s horn subsided.

Scarlet shook her head briefly in an attempt to dislodge her newly-retied ribbon, smiling when it remained solidly secured to her mane. “Much better. Thank you, Rarity.”

Rarity beamed. “Always happy to help with such a bold fashion statement, dear~”

The smiles soon subsided, however, as the party came upon a dangerously roaring river.

Pinkie Pie tilted her head and blinked. “How are we gonna get across this?”

Before anyone could respond, the cry of someone wailing in despair could be heard a ways away, and a quick trot upstream revealed the source to be a serpentine creature at least two stories tall, hands over its face as it made a series of dramatic sobbing sounds. Its violet scales glimmered in the moonlight, and its fiery orange hair was as neatly slicked and well kept as its matching moustache.

Tank gave a nonchalant shrug. "You know what, this may as well exist. It's not even the strangest thing I've seen today."

The rest of the ponies gave one another a variety of confused looks before Twilight took a step forward. "Uh... excuse me, sir? Why are you crying?"

“Oh, I’ve had such a dreadful accident…” The serpent gave a loud sniff as he lowered his hands and turned to face the pony party, revealing that one end of his moustache had been hastily torn off. “I was just having a lovely swim along the river bed when a big jagged rock came tumbling along out of nowhere and sliced off my beautiful moustache! I look simply horrid now…”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Oh, gimme a break. Are you serious?”

Rarity scoffed. “Why, of course he is!” She trotted up to the serpent and gave him a gentle pat with her hoof. “These beautiful scales, this gorgeous mane! It’s all as good as ruined with that moustache in such a state…” After pacing back and forth for a few seconds, she turned and approached Scarlet. “Sweetheart, would one of those fancy spells of yours be good for a bit of a trim?”

Scarlet blinked. “Er… yes, I have something prepared that should suffice. Why?”

“Fabulous!” Rarity quickly reached backward, wrapping the end of her tail around her hoof and pulling it taut. “Right there then if you would, dear. Just be careful to leave me a few inches.”

Scarlet looked taken aback. “Wait, you… wish for me to sever your tail?”

“Yes! Please, quickly.” Rarity’s eyes betrayed her reluctance as she said this, but she seemed determined.

“Very well.” Scarlet’s horn glowed and a blade of air formed for a fraction of a second, just long enough to slice cleanly through Rarity’s tail, leaving the majority of its length still wrapped around her hoof.

“Marvelous!” Taking hold of it with her own magic, Rarity levitated the severed tail over to the serpent’s face and tied it neatly to the torn end of his moustache.

The serpent blinked, staring at the end of his own snout for a moment as a grin spread across his face. “Oh, my moustache! This is wonderful!”

Scarlet looked a little deflated. “Rarity, are you certain this is what you wanted? You had such a lovely tail…”

“Oh it’s alright, dear. Short tails are in this season!” Rarity looked back at her severed tail, giving it a somewhat melancholy smile. “Besides, it’ll grow back soon enough…”

“Okay, well that’s great and all,” interjected Tank, “but I don’t see how this helps us get six flightless ponies across a river.”

“Ah, but I must disagree!” declared the serpent, who stretched his body to its full length and laid it out from one river bank to the other, forming a scaly bridge across.

“Thank you ever so much, darling~” Rarity beamed once again as the party carefully climbed their way over the serpent to the other side of the river, pausing for a moment to give him a friendly wave farewell before he and the river disappeared from sight behind them.


	6. Episode 1-6

As the party marched on, the foliage once again parted, only to be replaced with a patch of dense fog. In spite of this, however, the crumbling spires of an old ruined keep were visible in the moonlight some distance away.

Twilight gasped. “There it is! The Castle of the Two Sisters, the last known location of the Elements of Harmony! We finally made it!”

Tank took a deep breath and let it out. “I really hope that book of yours was right about this, Twilight. If those Elements aren’t here, then we are in some seriously deep YIKE” Scrambling backward as his front hoof missed the ground, he quickly realized he’d just discovered the chasm standing in the way of their destination.

Rainbow Dash giggled. “Dude, what’s with you and falling off cliffs today?”

Tank grumbled.

Scarlet peered carefully over the edge beside the supports of a fallen rope bridge nearby. “Well, I imagine at some point in the past we might have crossed this bridge, but it seems of little use to us now.”

“Hey, don’t sweat it!” Rainbow Dash grinned. “Look down there, see? The bridge is still in one piece; it just came untied. Gimme ten seconds and I’ll have this thing back up.” Without further ado, she dipped down into the fog and snatched up the dangling end of the bridge.

“Be careful, Rainbow!” Twilight called after her, but got no response as Rainbow Dash flew back up and disappeared into the mist. Sure enough, one side of the bridge rose up and wobbled as the other end was fastened securely.

Then ten seconds passed, and the bridge was still only half tied. A minute followed along, with no change.

“Rainbow! What’s taking so long?” Twilight called out into the haze once again, but met only the sound of the breeze in reply.

“Oh no, what if she’s in trouble?” Fluttershy’s ears drooped. “What do we do…?”

Waterwing glanced in the direction of the chasm for a moment before giving Fluttershy a reassuring pat and a confident smile, then pointing at herself with her hoof.

“Huh?” Fluttershy blinked. “I, um… I don’t really understand…”

Waterwing blinked in kind, but settled for simply shaking her head. With hardly another moment’s consideration, she spun around, spread her wings wide, and bolted off through the air after Rainbow Dash, a faint “Wait, what?” from Twilight barely reaching her ears as the rest of the party faded into the haze behind her.

Quickly reaching the other side of the chasm, Waterwing slowed to a hover and peered through the fog at two barely visible pony-shaped figures a few yards from the bridge supports, with a pair of voices attached.

“But… Spitfire, I don’t get it. Why do I - ”

“That’s Captain to you, Rainbow Dash.”

Waterwing immediately recognized the first voice as belonging to a strangely uneasy-sounding Rainbow Dash, but she was quickly cut off by the second, which caused Waterwing to duck just below the cliff to avoid detection, peeking out over the edge for an indistinct view of what was going on as the second voice spoke again.

“You don’t get it? This is a test of your conviction. You are one of the best fliers I have ever seen, and you more than deserve a place in my squadron. I can even see you rising as far as my rank or higher before you know it, but only if you prove to me your dedication. Leave those nobody ponies behind you and walk the path of your destiny, Rainbow Dash!”

There was a pause, and one of the figures began pacing back and forth for a moment before coming once again to a halt. “You… really think I could be captain?”

“You have the skill and the presence of a leader. All you need now is that conviction! Show me that your aspirations for greatness are higher than your flimsy attachments to a bunch of worthless ponies. Prove to me you have what it takes to be Captain Rainbow Dash of the Wonderbolts!”

Rainbow Dash resumed pacing. “Oh man, oh man… Captain Rainbow Dash, that’s so cool…! Everything I’ve dreamed of for years, and it’s right here in my hooves…” She soon slowed to a stop once again, turning to face the other figure. “There’s only one choice I could possibly make then. Captain Spitfire?”

Waterwing held her breath, her ears drooping as she shook her head sadly.

“No deal,” came Rainbow’s answer.

Waterwing let out a sigh of relief, wiping beads of sweat from her brow.

“What.” Spitfire took an aggressive step forward, but Rainbow Dash held her ground.

“Those aren’t just ‘a bunch of worthless ponies’ - those are my friends! And in case you hadn’t noticed, we’re in the middle of something really important! The only way we’re going to stop Nightmare Moon is if we work together. If what the Wonderbolts are looking for is somepony who turns her back on her friends when they need her, then you can count me out!” With that, Rainbow Dash turned her back on Spitfire and made for the half-tied bridge.

“Poor choice.”

As soon as Rainbow’s back was turned, the silhouette of Spitfire seemed to dissolve with a loud RIP into an indistinct mass that immediately lashed out with a long appendage toward Rainbow, who emitted a grunt of pain as she tripped and hit the ground. The sound of hooves scraping the dirt and wings flapping desperately soon followed.

“Rrrgh, ow! Let me go, you - ow! You little…” Whatever attempts Rainbow was making to free herself were quickly proving fruitless.

Waterwing shook off her hesitation, darting out of her hiding spot and racing toward Rainbow Dash. Peering through the fog as she approached revealed the assailant to be an animate mass of thorny vines, one of which was wrapped firmly around one of Rainbow’s hind legs. The remains of a badly ripped jacket lay nearby.

Rainbow Dash gave a small start as she recognized Waterwing flying toward her. “W-Waterwing? Wait, stop!” She flailed her forehooves as she struggled, prompting Waterwing to come to a halt in midair. “If you get too close, it’ll grab you too! Find something to throw at it!” As Waterwing’s response to this was merely to look left and right for a moment before turning back to her, Rainbow continued. “I don’t know, something heavy! A rock! Anything! HELP!!”

Waterwing winced at Rainbow’s yell, quickly rising higher in the air for a better look around. Her eyes darted this way and that in search of anything at all that might help Rainbow Dash, but her heart sank a little further with every oversized rock and dead tree over which her gaze passed. Suddenly, however, what might be her one chance made itself known in the form of one of the aforementioned trees, its barren trunk standing tall in spite of all the rotten wood at both its base and its severed top, only a few feet from the vine creature.

Taking up position in midair a little ways past it, Waterwing stared at a spot near the top of the trunk. She had to be certain it would fall just right - a second shot was out of the question. Backing up just a little more for momentum, Waterwing dove straight at the tree as quickly as her wings would carry her and collided, bits of bark flying everywhere as she crashed clear through the rotten wood. The base of the tree crumbled just enough from the impact to send the whole thing toppling over… right on top of the vine creature, resulting in a loud SPLAT.

Rainbow Dash’s struggles finally came to fruition as the vine around her leg loosed its grip, and she toppled forward a few feet in her haste before coming to a stop in the grass. Waterwing landed gently a few feet away, taking a moment to brush bits of wood from her mane before trotting up to Rainbow to have a look at her leg. Blood trickled from numerous puncture wounds dotting a large bruise that circled the spot where the vine had gripped her.

“It’s not that bad, really! I can - ow.” Rainbow winced, the pain in her leg causing her to falter as she attempted to rise. Glancing around for a moment, Waterwing quickly found and retrieved the torn jacket from beside the defeated vine creature, brought it to Rainbow’s side, and began tearing strips of fabric from it with her teeth. Rainbow’s wincing continued as Waterwing gripped a wadded scrap of jacket in her mouth and used it to gently mop up some of the blood from the wounded leg.

A few moments passed before Rainbow spoke again. “You’re, uh… not gonna tell anypony I said all that sappy stuff, are you?”

Waterwing quirked an eyebrow and smirked at her in response.

Rainbow glanced away. “Oh… right.”

Waterwing’s smile faded, and she pointed her hoof directly at Rainbow’s face.

“Huh?” Rainbow blinked. “Wait, you think I should do it?”

Waterwing nodded, her smile returning as she gave Rainbow a hoof getting up. A second scrap of fabric was tied neatly around the injured leg, at which Rainbow stared for a moment. “Wait. That’s the uniform Spitfire was wearing, but…”

Waterwing tilted her head.

Rainbow continued. "...but if the monster was using some kind of magic to look and sound like a pony, then why did it need to wear a real jacket?"

Waterwing could only stare for a moment as she pondered the question. Before any epiphanies struck her, however, she gave a silent gasp and pointed in the direction of the bridge.

Rainbow looked over her shoulder and gasped in turn. “Oh man, the bridge! I almost forgot! Quick, let’s - ow.” She looked down at her injured leg and gave Waterwing a sheepish grin before gently taking flight as the two made to finish the job they’d started.

* * *

“Sorry to keep everypony waiting!”

A collective gasp came from the assembled ponies as a familiar pair of blue pegasi emerged from the fog and landed on the now-completed bridge in front of them.

Tank scratched his head. “Geez, what took you two so long?”

Twilight gasped, pointing at the makeshift bandaging on Rainbow Dash’s leg, into which a bit of fresh blood had already begun to seep. “Rainbow, your leg…!”

Tears began welling in Fluttershy’s eyes. “Oh no, you got hurt… I should’ve been there too, I’m so sorry…”

“It’s okay, I’ll be fine!” Rainbow Dash flashed a reassuring smile, giving Fluttershy a gentle pat on the shoulder. “Man, have we got a story for you guys, though.” She grinned at Waterwing, who smiled in turn and gave a nod of agreement. “C'mon, let’s go! The road to the castle is open; we’ll tell you on the way!”


	7. Episode 1-7

“…and as soon as she finished, we rushed over to fix the bridge and catch up with you guys!”

Satisfied with her story, Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs as she floated along above Twilight, who took the next few seconds to process everything she’d just heard as she marched along.

“Waterwing?” Twilight finally broke her contemplation. “Was all of that really true?”

“Hey!” Rainbow protested.

To her credit, however, Waterwing nodded seriously.

“Hmm…” Twilight spent another moment in thought. “Well. I’m very proud of you both for making it out of all that in one piece… but that means Scarlet Starbeam was right.”

Rainbow Dash scratched her head. “About what?”

“Nightmare Moon knows we’re after the Elements.” A feeling of dread built up inside Twilight. “The rest could have all just been coincidences, but this one was a blatant trap… which almost certainly means they all were. We need to be really careful from here on out.”

At long last, their destination stood before them. Once a proud palace, the Castle of the Two Sisters now lay in ruins; its crumbling walls and ruined towers were overgrown with vines, and the front gate had long since weathered away.

As the others filed through the doorway, Rainbow Dash hung back for a moment, landing gingerly a few feet back. “Hey, Waterwing?”

Waterwing blinked and turned toward Rainbow, her head tilted.

“Uh…” Rainbow averted her gaze, rubbing one foreleg with the opposite hoof. “I don’t think I said it before, so um… thanks. You… probably saved my life back there.”

Waterwing calmly trotted up to Rainbow Dash and wrapped one foreleg around her, hugging gently. Rainbow gave a bashful smile, but this was short-lived; as soon as she caught sight of Twilight grinning at the both of them, her cheeks turned a soft crimson and she gently nudged Waterwing away.

“Yeah, yeah… I can only handle so much sap at once, okay? Let’s get going.”

Waterwing beamed, the two quickly following Twilight inside the castle.

The interior looked no better for the time it had spent abandoned; moonlight shone through the crumbled ceiling ten meters high at least, illuminating the dust and debris littering the floor. The hall in which they now found themselves stretched toward a dais at the end on which a pair of magnificent thrones stood, one midnight blue and the other golden yellow. A pair of tapestries hung above these, each depicting a regal-looking pony; one blue, whose crescent emblem stood flanked by stars, and the other yellow, whose sphere of daylight almost seemed to shine from the fabric. The walls were lined with tall doorways, through which staircases and halls presumably led to other parts of the castle.

Tank Buster glanced around at the fallen chunks of stone. “Well, this place has seen better days.”

Twilight marched to the fore of the group. “We should take a look around. There must be a clue somewhere that will lead us to the Elements.” She turned to face the group. “Nopony should go anywhere alone. Nightmare Moon has got to be lurking around here somewhere, so we can’t be too careful.”

Rainbow Dash floated up to a nearby staircase. “Hey, Fluttershy, let’s check out this - ow.” Suddenly wincing in pain, she landed gently and looked back at her injured leg, whose wrapping was a bit redder than it had been a few minutes ago.

“Oh no…” Fluttershy’s ears drooped as she flew to Rainbow Dash’s side. “Rainbow… I think you should rest instead.”

“Fluttershy, I’m fine! I just need to… ow.” Rainbow winced again. “Alright, maybe taking a breather isn’t such a bad idea…” Brushing some dust away, Rainbow curled up in the shadow of a particularly large fallen ceiling tile and laid her head down.

Waterwing gently took a seat next to Rainbow and turned to Fluttershy, pointing first at herself and then at Rainbow Dash.

“Are you going to look after her, then?” Fluttershy asked.

Waterwing nodded.

With that, the rest of the party split into groups to have a look around. Pinkie Pie bounced her way up a nearby staircase, followed close behind by Fluttershy, while Rarity and Applejack wandered down a dimly-lit corridor and peered into a side room. This left Twilight, Scarlet, and Tank examining the dais in the main hall.

Tank marched in a slow circle around the blue throne, eyeing it up and down. “So what exactly is this place again?”

Twilight tapped her hoof against the slabs of stone comprising the wall behind the thrones. “In the distant past, long before the forest grew around it, this was the royal palace. It was moved to Canterlot almost a thousand years ago.”

“Royal palace…?” Scarlet echoed the phrase, looking up briefly from her task of stepping on each floor tile in turn to look over the tapestries above the thrones. “Nightmare Moon did mention a crown when she appeared. Was she truly a member of the monarchy?”

Twilight looked over and nodded. “We don’t have time for the whole story now, but she used to be Princess Luna, Princess Celestia’s younger sister. She envied her elder sister’s position for so long that she gave in to her thirst for power and tried to take the throne by force. That’s when Princess Celestia used the raw energy of the five known Elements of Harmony to banish her to the moon.”

Tank climbed onto the blue throne and sat down. “So the current Princess Celestia is a descendant of the one from back then, I’m guessing?”

Twilight quirked an eyebrow. “Uh… no? They’re the same pony.”

Tank stood up. “Wait, what? How does that work? Nightmare Moon said she’d been imprisoned for a thousand years. That would mean Princess Celestia is well over a millennium old.”

Twilight stared at Tank quizzically. “Alicorn princesses live for thousands of years. Everypony knows that.”

“Oh.” Tank blinked. “Uh… right! Of course.” He gave Twilight a sheepish grin.

Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but at that very moment, something caught her eye. “Wait, what’s this?”

The three of them gathered around to have a look at what turned out to be an odd-looking extrusion about an inch square on the back of the yellow throne.

Scarlet looked it over. “Is that a switch?”

“There’s one way to find out.” Twilight gently pressed it inward. Immediately, a portion of the back wall behind them began slowly and noisily sinking into the floor, revealing a staircase leading downward. A faint light came from the room down below.

Tank looked over his shoulder briefly. His gaze met Waterwing’s further back in the hall, and when she nodded, he turned back to Twilight. “Well, I doubt this is gonna be as easy as just the one switch, but let’s check it out regardless.”

With that, the three of them descended the staircase into the depths of the castle.

As soon as the trio reached the bottom of the stairs, Twilight gasped. “Look, there they are!”

The hall in which they now found themselves was marginally smaller than the one they had just left. The walls lacked any windows or doors, and upon the dais at the far end sat a short column with a large glowing orb perched on top. Surrounding it were five smaller mounts attached to the central column, on which a series of colorful gemstones sat, one each shining brilliantly in shades of orange, purple, red, pink, and sky blue. The three ponies approached this monument slowly, the better to take in the brilliance of the display before them.

“Are those the Elements of Harmony, then?” Scarlet’s eyes lit up. “How beautiful…”

“Huh.” Tank shrugged. “Well, that was easy. So much for macguffin hunting, I guess.”

Twilight beamed. “This is perfect! Quick, let’s go collect everypony upstairs before Nightmare Moon gets here!”

Having turned back to face Twilight, Scarlet winced. “Er… Tank, you may have spoken a bit too soon…”

“Huh? Why do you - ?” As soon as Twilight caught sight of the staircase behind them, she stopped mid-sentence and her eyes went wide in terror.

Tank sighed. “Because you can’t really outrun someone when they’re already here.”

Nightmare Moon towered before them from the doorway, a nasty grin slowly spreading across her face.


	8. Episode 1-8

Nightmare Moon strode confidently into the dimly-lit hall.

Scarlet glanced quickly over at Tank, keeping her voice low. “Are we prepared for this?”

“Of course we are,” Tank muttered sardonically. “Let’s see: no weapons, no armor, no extraction plan, no radio to call for backup, nontrivial chance of death… Yeah, I’d say we’re peachy!”

Nightmare Moon flashed them a sharp-toothed grin. “Well, well… you managed to worm your way out of all the traps I set for you! I’m almost impressed… and on top of that, you went and found the Elements of Harmony for me! Now that I wield the one weapon powerful enough to defeat me, I will be unstoppable!”

Tank quirked an eyebrow, staring at Nightmare Moon quizzically. "So you just couldn't figure out how to press a switch then?"

Ignoring Tank’s comment, Twilight took a careful step forward. “Not so fast, Nightmare Moon! We’re the ones with the Elements, and we’re going to use them to stop you!”

“Oh, is that so?” Nightmare Moon raised a hoof to her face in mock contemplation. “Pray, tell me how you plan on doing that, hmm?”

“Ha! All we have to do is, uh… wait…” Twilight’s eyes went wide again as her momentary confidence made way for panic.

Scarlet turned quickly to Twilight. “Is something the matter?”

Twilight’s gaze sank to the floor. “I… don’t actually know how to use the Elements of Harmony. The book just talked about the Elements themselves, not how to wield them.”

“Oh.” Tank blinked. “So are we just dead then, or what?”

Scarlet shot him a disapproving glare.

Twilight turned back toward the Elements. “If I had more time, there might still be a way to draw out their power…”

Scarlet gave her a confident smirk. “Then let us buy you as much as we can.”

Twilight blinked. “Huh?”

Scarlet looked over at Nightmare Moon, who seemed content to watch their exchange with a bemused sneer.

Twilight gasped, covering her mouth with a hoof as the realization hit her. “Wait… no, you can’t! I don’t know how long it’ll take. By the time I’m ready, you two might be…” She trailed off, unable to finish the thought.

Scarlet shook her head. “I see no feasible alternative. Are you certain you can do this?”

Twilight hesitated, looking back over her shoulder at the Elements again. “I think…” She took a deep breath, then looked Scarlet square in the eye. “…no, I can do this. I’ve been studying magic since I was a filly; I know there’s a way, and I’ll find it.”

“Then go. We will do what we can.” Scarlet glanced at Tank, who nodded. The two then turned their full attention on Nightmare Moon as Twilight dashed past them toward the Elements.

Nightmare Moon gave a hearty chuckle, her voice booming in the enclosed hall. “You really don’t know how far out of your depth you are, do you? I am queen of the eternal night! You two are insects before me, and I’ll see you crushed like one unless you beg for mercy right here and now!”

Tank rolled his eyes, waving a hoof dismissively. “Whatever, lady. You need a minute to pick that scenery out of your teeth before we start this thing?”

“So be it!”

In an instant, Nightmare Moon lowered her head, her horn taking on a glow as a stream of white needles shot from it, aimed directly at the pair of ponies before her.

“Scatter!” yelled Scarlet as she and Tank darted in opposite directions.

Tank took off like a bullet, momentarily surprised by his own agility. His momentum carried him in a circle behind Nightmare Moon, toward whom he barreled at top speed… but before he could connect, his target spread her wings and took to the air, leaving Tank skidding across the stone floor as he scrambled to come to a stop.

“Pathetic worms!” Nightmare Moon crowed. “Your foolish belligerence will - augh!”

A gust of frigid air full of sparkling blue snowflakes courtesy of Scarlet blew past Nightmare Moon. In seconds, her wings seemed to grow heavy as ice crystals gathered upon them, and though she flapped them furiously, she found herself quickly losing altitude. Focused on her plight, she failed to notice a certain green pony speeding toward her once more as Tank’s shoulder collided with her flank, knocking her to the ground.

“Ha!” Tank sneered gleefully. “Sorry, you were saying?”

Still sprawled out on the floor, Nightmare Moon shot them a furious look. Her horn glowed a sinister purple as rings of dark energy shot from it in a beam that swept quickly across the room, knocking Scarlet and Tank over in the process.

A bead of sweat rolled down Twilight’s cheek, all the concentration she could muster focused on coaxing the Elements of Harmony into action, but thus far they seemed intent on stubbornly ignoring her. “Please…” she whispered, the light enveloping her horn growing ever brighter as her efforts compounded. “Please help us… My friends - no, our whole world is in danger… come on…!”

Once again upright, Nightmare Moon glowered at the pair as they too climbed to their feet. “Contemptible vermin… how dare you,” she spat. The purple surrounded her horn once again, this time quickly forming a ball of darkness that launched itself toward them.

“Hold fast,” Scarlet whispered to Tank, her own horn taking on a pink glow as a shield of light rose between the pair and their foe just in time to catch the shadowy orb, which dissolved into a cloud of mist on impact. Hardly a second later, however, the sound of breaking glass rang out as Nightmare Moon’s hoof came down on the shield, shattering it before them. Reflexively, the two once again scattered, circling around behind the enemy.

“Oh no you don’t!” A lavender glow overtook Nightmare Moon’s horn as a shower of tiny spiky objects poured forth from it, scattering across the floor in front of Scarlet and Tank and leaving droplets of a suspicious purple substance in the process. The two immediately halted in their tracks, quickly whirling back around to face Nightmare Moon, already bearing down on them.

“I got it!”

Twilight, beaming as the five Elements of Harmony before her shone in response to her magic, turned to face Nightmare Moon. “Your time is up! I have the power of the Elements right here in my hooves!”

Nightmare Moon did not so much as flinch. Instead, she continued glaring at Scarlet and Tank, her angry snarl curling once again into a sneer.

“I don’t think so.”

As a brown glow enveloped her horn and a toothy grin spread across her face, the entire castle began to quake violently, throwing everyone off balance and causing chunks of the ceiling to give way and plummet to the floor, crashing noisily. For several seconds, it seemed as though the whole ruin would collapse around them, but the quake soon ended as abruptly as it began.

As the dust settled, Scarlet quickly picked herself up off the floor and looked to her companion, who had not yet gotten to his feet. Ready to dash to his side, she hesitated as she spied the scattered spikes onto which he had fallen.

“Ow…” With a grunt of pain, Tank struggled for a moment to stand, but managed only to make it halfway, propping himself up on his forelegs as tiny purple spikes stuck into his side. “I think… these things are poisoned…”

Before she could ponder her next course of action, however, Scarlet’s train of thought was interrupted by a scream from the other side of the hall.

“NO!”

Where the monument to the Elements had stood only moments before, there was now a pile of rubble from the ceiling… surrounded by the shattered remains of five brilliant gemstones.

Tears welled in Twilight’s eyes as she sat on her haunches, shaking her head in disbelief. “No… no no no no, this can’t be happening…” Once again summoning the magic she had just used to draw forth the power of the Elements, Twilight’s horn gave a furious light… but it drew no response. “I was so close…”

“HAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!” Nightmare Moon’s uproarious laughter echoed in the dark hall. “It would have been nice to command the Elements myself, but that is of no consequence! With their destruction, I am unstoppable!” She grinned her toothy grin once again as she watched Scarlet help Tank climb gingerly to his feet. “I’m feeling particularly charitable today, worms. I’ll offer you one last chance - if you beg for mercy now, I just might spare your lives.”

Twilight marched slowly to Scarlet’s side, her head hung low in defeat. “I guess we have no choice now,” she muttered. “She’s right… with the Elements gone, there’s no way we can beat her.”

“No,” declared Scarlet.

Twilight blinked. “Huh?”

Holding Tank’s foreleg over her shoulders to keep him supported, Scarlet shook her head. “So long as we still draw breath, this fight is not over. There is always another way.”

“But…” Twilight stared incredulously at Scarlet, too confused to rebut. The next thing she knew, however, the sound of several sets of hooves came thundering down the stairs. In seconds, six familiar ponies burst from the doorway and fixed their attention on Nightmare Moon. Waterwing however, spotting the injured Tank, shifted gears and quickly flew to his side, taking Scarlet’s place in holding him upright.

In spite of his heavy breathing, Tank chuckled to himself. “Heh… took you long enough…”

“Hold it right there!” Rainbow Dash seemed to have found her second wind. “If you want to hurt our friends, you’ll have to go through us first!”

Rarity brushed her hair away from her face before giving Nightmare Moon a furious glare. “Get away from them, you brute! You’re a scoundrel of the worst sort!”

Pinkie Pie stomped her hoof angrily. “Yeah! What they said, you meanie!”

A smile slowly returned to Twilight’s face, the gloom in her heart soon replaced with joy at the sight of her friends. As if by magic, she realized she’d known the answer from the beginning; it had traveled with her the whole way through the forest, after all.

“You missed something, Nightmare Moon. The Elements of Harmony can’t truly be destroyed so long as they live on in our hearts, and we have all five accounted for right here.”

Nightmare Moon recoiled, looking strangely apprehensive. “W-What rubbish is this?”

Twilight beamed as she rattled off her explanation. “Applejack reassuring me that my friends would protect me… Fluttershy gently calming the angry manticore… Pinkie Pie laughing in the face of darkness… Rarity selflessly offering her tail to the serpent… and Rainbow Dash putting her friends before her aspirations. Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, and Loyalty.” As she spoke, five golden necklaces appeared on the collars of each of the aforementioned companions, set with shining gemstones in brilliant shades of orange, pink, sky blue, purple, and red in sequence.

“Hey, cool!” Pinkie poked at hers with her hoof.

“What.” Nightmare Moon stared blankly.

“But,” Twilight continued, “there’s still a missing piece. One more element that ties the rest together, just as it binds us all: the element of friendship itself, better known by a different name… because, as we all know…” She allowed herself a particularly satisfied smirk. “Friendship… is Magic.”

A golden tiara materialized atop Twilight’s head, sporting a magenta gemstone in the shape of a six-pointed star.

Tank rolled his eyes. “I know this is like… us about to win and all, but… that speech was so cheesy… we could melt it and hold a fondue party.”

“Oh!” Struck by a sudden thought, Twilight turned toward Scarlet and her companions. “As for you three… we would never have gotten this far without your help either. Tank Buster standing up to danger and fear as the rest of us cowered helplessly… Waterwing flying to Rainbow’s aid when she needed it most… and Scarlet Starbeam stopping me from giving in to despair not once, but twice. I can see the same light of harmony in your hearts as theirs, and I have no doubt you three represent new Elements we’ve never even seen before.” With that, three more golden necklaces appeared adorning the three companions, their empty settings awaiting discovery of the Elements that belonged there.

Waterwing blinked, glancing curiously back and forth between her necklace and the ones worn by her comrades.

“But that’s a mystery for another day,” declared Twilight. “First, we’ve got a score to settle.”

Nightmare Moon stared at the ponies before her incredulously. “But that’s… I don’t… you can’t just…” Try as she might, incoherent sputtering was all she could manage.

The five original Elements began glowing brightly, each shining beams of colored light that converged on the Element of Magic, combining into a single beam of brilliant rainbow aimed directly at Nightmare Moon.

“NOOOOOOOO!” Nightmare Moon flailed helplessly as the magic of the Elements lifted her into the air and enveloped her, and soon the rest of the hall, in a brilliant flash of light.


	9. Episode 1-9

The collected ponies shielded their eyes from the bright light for a few seconds before it finally faded.

Nightmare Moon lay before them, unconscious but visibly uninjured, her armor lying in shards all around her. As they watched, she slowly regained consciousness, blinking in the dim light. As soon as she caught sight of Scarlet Starbeam towering over her, however, she scrambled backward a few feet, stopping only as she bumped into the wall.

Scarlet took a step forward. “Stand down, Nightmare Moon. Your fight is over. You will accompany us back to town, where you will await judgment.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

The sound of hoofsteps came from the stairwell once again as a single pony joined them in the hall. She stood no less than twice as tall as Scarlet herself; her body was a cloud-like white, and her mane and tail, predominantly sky blue with highlights of sea green and lavender, seemed to drift in a nonexistent breeze. She wore a magnificent golden crown and necklace, and the emblem of a bright sunburst emblazoned her flank. What stood out most to Scarlet, however, were her long, sharp horn and magnificent wings, just like another she’d seen that evening.

It didn’t take long for the pieces to connect in her head. “Princess Celestia?”

At once, six of the assembled ponies dropped to their knees, bowing in reverence. After a moment’s hesitation, Scarlet slowly followed suit.

“My faithful student Twilight,” Celestia began, “I’d say congratulations are in order for your victory today. Thanks to you, Equestria has escaped the clutches of Nightmare Moon.”

Twilight’s face shone with pride. As she opened her mouth to respond, however, a loud fit of coughing and a small cloud of purple bubbles cut her off. Waterwing shifted a bit as Tank Buster leaned a little more heavily on her, lazily wiping a drop of purple from the corner of his mouth.

“Oh! You have injured.” Celestia strode purposefully forward, lowering her horn toward Tank. With a brief glow, a ring of tiny lights rose through the floor, encircling Tank for just a moment before fading.

After a few seconds, Tank blinked and lifted his head. “Oh, wow, that’s better. Um, thanks.”

Celestia nodded. “That should slow the poison for a while until the infirmary can administer an antitoxin.” She turned back toward Twilight. “We have much to discuss, but it will need to wait until then. I have just one order of business before we return to town.” With that, she locked eyes with the defeated Nightmare Moon, still cowering in the background.

Nightmare Moon flinched, trembling as the imposing figure of Princess Celestia marched toward her… and gently nuzzled the cowering pony’s neck with her cheek.

“It’s been a long time, dear sister,” Celestia breathed, barely above a whisper. “I missed you so very much…”

Rainbow Dash missed a wingbeat and nearly fell to the floor. “Sister? _What_?”

Twilight nodded. “She’s not Nightmare Moon anymore. Her name is Princess Luna.”

Still trembling in apprehension, Luna slowly stood up, glancing back and forth between her sister and the crowd of ponies before them.

Celestia smiled gently. “I must take Luna back to Canterlot. I will meet the rest of you at the infirmary in Ponyville.” With a momentary glow of her horn, she cast an intricate-looking circle of light on the floor in front of them. “Hurry along, now.”

One by one, all nine of them stepped into the circle of light and vanished, whisked off back to town.

* * *

“Are… are you going to punish her, Princess?”

Assembled with the others in the infirmary waiting room as Rainbow Dash and Tank Buster received proper treatment, Fluttershy rubbed her hooves together nervously.

Celestia chuckled, reclining casually on a nearby couch. “Of course not, Fluttershy. I knew this day would come, and I had every confidence that my faithful student and her new friends would see things right in the end. Thanks to your efforts, she ended up causing very little damage, all things considered.”

Twilight busied herself with examining the ornate tiara in her hooves, its Element of Magic sparkling as brilliantly as ever. “Princess, what should we do with the Elements of Harmony?”

Celestia blinked, pondering the question for a moment. “The royal palace is the safest place for them, I think. I’d like to keep them close; we cannot anticipate when we may need them again.”

Rarity pouted, straightening her Element of Generosity around her neck. “It’s so lovely, I hate to part with it, but I suppose it isn’t exactly an ordinary necklace…”

“What about these?” Scarlet pointed to her own necklace and its empty setting. “They seem to be rather… inactive as yet.”

“I had an idea about that, actually.” Celestia turned to Twilight once again. “Twilight, do you happen to have any unfinished business back in Canterlot?”

Twilight straightened up in her seat. “Um… I don’t think so. Why?”

“I have another assignment for you.” Celestia stood up, her expression turning serious. “Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to identify the three new Elements of Harmony you’ve discovered. I believe the friends you have made since your arrival in Ponyville will be an indispensable part of your investigation; as such, you will be staying in the Golden Oak Library in Ponyville for the forseeable future so that its resources are available to you. I will forward any potentially relevant materials from your room in Canterlot as well. Is that understood?”

Twilight stood up out of her chair and bowed. “I humbly accept this assignment, Princess.”

“Excellent.” Celestia’s pleasant smile returned. “Ah, it seems your friends have been discharged.”

Sure enough, Rainbow Dash and Tank Buster filed their way out of a nearby door. The bandaging on Rainbow’s hind leg was neat and clean, and Tank seemed to be a little dizzy but otherwise unharmed.

Fluttershy was the first to approach them. “Um… how are you two feeling?”

Rainbow shook her bandaged leg. “The pain went away a little while ago. I just need to keep these on for a few days to be sure though.”

Tank shook his head vigorously. “Well, until this dizziness wears off in a few minutes, the antitoxin is only a marginal improvement over the poison… but I guess at least it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“Well then,” Celestia began, prompting everyone to turn their attention her way, “now that we have everypony here again, I think it’s time we discuss the matter of compensation.”

Applejack adjusted her hat. “Aw shucks, Princess, we’re just glad you’re back and the sun’s up again. We don’t need any fancy rewards, right?”

A murmur of assent came from most of the rest of the group; Tank opened his mouth to object, but decided he’d thought better of it and closed it again before any words came out.

“I suppose I should have expected that, given the company in question.” Celestia gave a satisfied smirk. “I feel I ought to ask, though… have any of you eaten recently? It’s been a long night, after all.”

“Not since before the festival,” Twilight admitted. As if on cue, Pinkie’s stomach growled its agreement.

Celestia nodded. “Then it’s a good thing I thought to order a little something. It should be waiting for you back at the library by the time you get there.”

Waterwing’s eyes lit up and she rubbed her forehooves together in anticipation.

“I have other matters that need my attention now that Luna has returned,” Celestia explained, “so I’m afraid we must part ways from here. Enjoy your meal, my little ponies, and rest well. You’ve certainly earned it.”


	10. Episode 1-10

“Oh, it’s such a relief getting that new assignment from Princess Celestia…” Twilight Sparkle beamed up at the great tree before them that was the Golden Oak Library, illuminated by the midday sun.

Applejack quirked an eyebrow. “Why’s that?”

Twilight’s smile faded a little. “The reason she sent me to Ponyville in the first place was to encourage me to make friends. Now that I have, I was worried she might send me back to Canterlot alone. I didn’t want to just up and leave you behind like that.”

Pinkie Pie grinned, her tail swishing happily. “Aww, you _do_ care about us!”

Twilight’s smile returned. “Of course I do, Pinkie. It just took me a trip through the Everfree Forest to realize it.”

“Don’t forget the harrowing encounter with a supervillain,” Tank Buster added.

Scarlet Starbeam smiled. “No bond quite compares to that forged in the heat of battle, does it?”

The nine ponies filed into the library to find a long table already set up, surrounded by nine chairs and laden with several paper bags and cups.

Rainbow Dash sniffed at the air eagerly. “Oh man, did the Princess order us hayburgers?”

“Oh!” Twilight blinked, as though not sure how to react. “I don’t think I’ve had one before; there weren’t any restaurants in Canterlot that served them.”

“Hayburgers…?” Scarlet echoed, glancing nervously at Tank and Waterwing to find similar looks of apprehension on their faces.

“You ain’t tried them either? C'mon, you’re in for a treat!” Applejack beckoned them over to the table, where Rarity and Pinkie Pie had already begun distributing drinks and sandwiches about.

As everyone else began to tuck into their burgers, Tank gave his a careful nudge. Sure enough, under the bun he found ketchup, pickles, lettuce, a tomato slice… and a hearty sprinkling of hay.

“Welp,” Tank muttered. “That… sure is exactly what it says on the tin.”

“This… may be a problem.” Scarlet glanced from one companion to the other. “Waterwing, what do you…?”

Waterwing paused, her hayburger held carefully in her hooves. Several bites were already missing from it; a smear of ketchup on her cheek betrayed where they’d gone. Scarlet and Tank stared at her incredulously, but she merely shrugged in response and hungrily tore off another bite.

“Hey, so I’ve been curious about something for a while now.” Twilight took a sip of her drink before continuing. “I’ve never seen cutie marks quite like yours before. Would you tell us how you got them?”

Scarlet blinked, staring blankly at Twilight. “Er… ‘cutie marks…’?”

“Why, of course, dear!” Rarity leaned forward eagerly. “Cutie marks as unusual as yours must have the most _fascinating_ stories behind them. Go on, I insist~”

Scarlet spent a few seconds sweating nervously before lowering her voice to a barely audible whisper. “I have no idea what that means…”

Tank scratched his head, whispering back as quietly as he could manage. “Uh… I think they’re talking about these weird tattoo things,” he suggested, glancing from the shooting star mark on Scarlet’s flank to the heart-shaped one sported by Waterwing.

“But we know nothing whatsoever about them,” Scarlet protested.

“Nope, we sure don’t!” Tank gave her a sarcastic grin. “Looks like we get to improvise and hope for the best.”

Rainbow Dash quirked an eyebrow. “Uh, what are you guys whispering about?”

“Ah, nothing relevant!” Scarlet gave Rainbow a pleasant smile. “Tank here was just about to begin the exciting tale of his, er… cutie mark!”

Tank bristled, shooting a dirty look at Scarlet. “ _What?_ Why, you - ”

Twilight blinked. “Is something wrong?”

“Huh? Oh, uh… no, everything’s fine!” Tank waved his forehooves in dismissal. “Right, so uh… cutie mark story! That’s… certainly a thing… that I can definitely tell you.” He glanced down at his own shield mark as though hoping it might yield some means of escaping the conversation. “Let’s see… I, uh, got into a fight! A really nasty one, with, uh… an angry stencil set?”

A quiet breeze blowing in through a nearby window was the only sound to be heard in the library as six very confused ponies stared at Tank.

“WAAAHAHAHA!”

Pinkie Pie gave a great guffaw and toppled out of her chair.

Tank rolled his eyes. “I’m getting the sneaking suspicion that wasn’t the right answer…”

Applejack scratched her head. “Uh… if I didn’t know better, I’d say it sounds like you don’t even know what a cutie mark is.”

“Er… well, you see, what I believe he meant to say was - ” Scarlet began, before she suddenly felt a hoof on her shoulder and stopped.

Waterwing shook her head gently, lowering her hoof just far enough to place it over Scarlet’s heart.

Scarlet stared down at it for a moment, taking a deep breath. Finally, she looked back up at her companion. “…Very well. I suppose we owe them at least that much.”

Waterwing lowered her hoof, smiling as she nodded in agreement.

“Truth be told, Applejack,” Scarlet began, “you guessed correctly - none of us know what these strange marks on our bodies mean.”

“But… how can that be?” Fluttershy glanced worriedly from pony to pony, not sure what to think. “Everypony knows what cutie marks are…”

“I’ll give you a hint then,” Tank offered. “If everyone in the world knows what cutie marks are, what do you figure that means about us?”

The gears in Twilight’s mind snapped into place with an almost audible ‘click.’

“Wait… that explains everything.” Twilight glanced between each of the three companions in turn. “The way you hesitated before introducing yourselves, and the strange gaps in your knowledge… not to mention your speech patterns and your spells are totally unfamiliar. I’ve never seen anything like it before…” She took a moment to sort all this out in her head. “Are… you three from another world?”

 _Pfff!_ Rainbow Dash spat out her drink.

Tank smirked. “Wow, you figured that out way faster than I expected.”

“Another world?” Applejack echoed, a skeptical eyebrow quirked. “So what, are you saying you’re supposed to be some kind of aliens or something?”

“In a technical sense, I suppose,” Scarlet explained. “Our recent memories seem to have been muddled, so we can offer little in terms of context…”

Tank shrugged. “All we know is that we were in the middle of a job back home, enjoying our upright posture and our opposable thumbs, when bam - suddenly we’re a bunch of candy-colored equines with inexplicable butt tattoos in the middle of a field with no idea how we got there or where all our stuff went.”

Pinkie Pie scratched her head. “Opposa… what?”

Scarlet giggled. “Opposable thumbs, Pinkie. Our true form is that of the human, a bipedal primate. You would likely find our appearance very bizarre were we not transfigured so.”

Rarity blinked. “This is rather a lot to take in…”

“I’m sure the whole thing sounds completely bananas,” Tank admitted. “I honestly can’t tell if you even believe us.”

“Of course we do.” Twilight smiled, her tail swishing happily.

“Yeah!” Rainbow agreed. “…Wait, we do?”

Twilight straightened up a bit in her seat. “You three are connected to the Elements of Harmony, just like the rest of us… not to mention you risked your lives to help us defeat Nightmare Moon. If that doesn’t make you worthy of our trust, then I don’t know what would. I hope we get to be really good friends! I would love to learn more about you and your world…” At this, her eyes lit up. “Oh, and I almost forgot - we also have the task of discovering just what your Elements are! I hope you’re as excited as I am. This is unprecedented! We have so much research to do!”

Scarlet bit her lip. “Er. Yes, well… you see…”

Twilight’s excited grin faltered. “Huh?”

Tank heaved a noisy sigh. “Twilight… I’m really sorry about this, but we can’t stay here. We have friends and loved ones waiting for us in our world. We have lives to get back to; we can’t just drop everything and stick around to help you, even with an assignment this important.”

Pinkie Pie’s eyes began to water. “Wait, you’re leaving already? But you just got here! I didn’t even get to throw you your party yet…!”

Scarlet winced. “It breaks my heart to say it, Pinkie… but yes, we really must be on our way. I promise we will not soon forget our time here… or any of you, for that matter.”

Twilight looked crestfallen. “Well… it’ll be a lot harder identifying your Elements without your help… but it would be pretty selfish of me to ask you to stay just for that, wouldn’t it?”

“Oh, but you could come visit sometime, couldn’t you?” Rarity suggested. “We would all be ever so pleased to see you again.”

“Rarity, we have no idea how we even got here in the first place,” Tank explained. “I highly doubt we could promise to come visit.”

“Um… wait…”

This time, Fluttershy’s small voice drew the attention of every pony in the room. “Um, well… it’s just…” She spent a moment fidgeting in her seat, as though unsure if she should continue. “If you don’t know how you came to Equestria… then how do you know how to leave?”

Dead silence overtook the library for the next several seconds, during which Tank could almost feel the color draining from his face.

“Oh, _void_.”


	11. Episode 1-11

Waterwing gave a silent gasp, covering her mouth with her forehooves as she quickly glanced toward her companions. To her dismay, however, their reactions were no more confident than hers.

A bead of sweat rolled down Tank’s neck as he slowly climbed out of his seat. “Uh… could you guys give us a minute? I think we need to go check something. Like, right now.”

“We will likely not be gone long.” Scarlet put her foreleg over a hesitant Waterwing to urge her along.

“Wait.” Twilight hopped down from her chair. “We’ll come with you.”

The three exchanged brief glances.

Tank scratched his head. “Uh… if you want, sure.”

At this, the rest of the ponies rose from their seats as well, and the party made for the library door.

* * *

A light breeze rolled over the hills just a little ways outside of town. It was here that Scarlet stopped, prompting the rest of the party to come to a halt behind her.

Scarlet turned to her comrades. “This was it, correct?”

After a moment of hesitation, Waterwing nodded slowly.

Applejack’s gaze swept across the plain. The lush grasses swayed in the wind as a small flock of birds fluttered by overhead. “Sure looks like an ordinary field to me…”

Tank sighed. “Yup, that’s pretty much exactly what I was afraid of.”

“Well, we won’t know for sure unless we take a closer look, right?” Twilight stepped to the fore of the party and turned back toward the others. “Come on, everypony; maybe there’s a clue around here somewhere.”

With that, the nine of them marched out onto the field to begin their investigation. Those with wings took to the air, scanning the horizon from the mountains in the north to the Everfree Forest a ways south; the rest found themselves scouring the brush for whatever they might find. No idle chatter passed between them as they went; the apprehension in the air dampened any desire for it.

A few minutes turned into many more, soon surpassing an hour… and eventually saw all nine ponies retreating to the base of a now all-too-familiar hill. Though they stood in a loose circle to facilitate conversation, no one seemed eager to share their findings… and as Twilight finally broke the silence, it quickly became obvious why.

“So… what did everypony find?”

At this, heads turned away and gazes fell to avoid eye contact.

“Uh, well, we found…” Rainbow Dash glanced over her shoulder hesitantly before finishing her sentence with a sigh. “…absolutely nothing.”

“I… I’m sorry, everypony,” Fluttershy added, her voice once again barely above a whisper.

“We must have turned over every blade of grass in this entire field,” Rarity declared. “Were there anything here to find, I’m certain we would have uncovered it by now.”

“Like this rock?” Pinkie grinned as she held up a small rock. “It’s got a hoof mark on it. I think it might be a clue!”

“Oh, uh…” Tank winced slightly. “I… think that’s the rock I kicked before ‘cause I was irritated. I doubt it’s gonna help us any.”

“Oh…” Visibly deflated, Pinkie tossed the rock aside and watched it roll away.

Tank sat back on his haunches, glaring at the grass as though he presumed it responsible. “I don’t _get_ it. No portal, no landing pad… no tire tracks, for however much sense that would even make… and no traces of magic, either. Unless that would have faded by now.”

Scarlet shook her head. “The amount of magic required to transport three people between worlds would be enormous. I highly doubt it would dissipate in a matter of hours, and had we been here longer than that, someone surely would have noticed us.”

“So… if there even are any clues, we have no way of knowing where to look for them.” Tank stared over his shoulder for a moment as though expecting to notice something that the nine of them hadn’t in a thorough search of the area. Eventually, he heaved a frustrated sigh. “Which means… we’re stranded.”

_sniff_

A quiet _thud_ came as Waterwing fell prone in the grass, the soft sound of her voiceless sobbing coming from behind her forelegs, in which her face was now buried. Tank stared at his own forehooves for a moment as though in disbelief of their very existence before letting them fall uselessly into his lap. Scarlet turned her gaze skyward, squinting in the afternoon sunlight as she watched a cloud slowly drift by.

Twilight found herself at a loss for words. What are you supposed to say to a bunch of ponies you just met, who turn out to be aliens from another world, and also just discovered that they have no way to return home? As she turned to her companions, it seemed clear they had little to offer either; Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck, Rarity bit her lip, Pinkie Pie grinned and wagged her poofy tail…

“…”

Twilight’s brain had only barely finished registering this as strange before Pinkie began happily hopping up and down. “YAAY! Now we have enough time for a party!”

“Pinkie!” Twilight hissed. “What are you _doing_?”

Pinkie ceased her bouncing and gave Twilight an indignant look. “What do you mean, ‘what am I doing’? I’m gonna throw a party for three ponies who just found out they can’t go home! I’m not just gonna stand here and watch them being sad.”

“I don’t think now is really a good time for - ”

Twilight’s protest was quickly cut off by a soft giggle from Scarlet. “Actually… that sounds delightful, Pinkie.”

“I think a morale boost would do us wonders right now, yeah.” Tank gently ran his hoof through Waterwing’s mane, mollifying her enough to coax her into lifting her head and glancing in his direction. “Although we should probably look into finding a place to stay sooner rather than later…”

“Well shucks, no need to fret about that.” Applejack tipped her hat. “I’m sure we can arrange something, right? I bet Sweet Apple Acres has room for a sturdy earth pony who won’t mind helping out with a few chores.” She punctuated this sentence by giving Tank a knowing smirk.

Tank blinked, blushing lightly. “Oh! That… works out just fine for me. Thanks, Applejack.”

“Yeah! And I bet I know somepony who’d totally be up for an awesome sleepover!” Rainbow Dash gave the still-recovering Waterwing a gentle nudge and lowered her voice somewhat. “What do you say? I do still kinda owe you.”

Waterwing sat up, wiped a final tear from her cheek, and promptly wrapped Rainbow in a grateful hug.

Rainbow Dash nearly toppled backward in surprise. “Hey, hey! What did I say about sap?”

After enjoying an amused giggle, Twilight turned to Scarlet. “There’s a spare bedroll in the library you can borrow for a while. There’s gotta be a way to send you home somewhere, and with your help, I just know we’ll find it.”

Scarlet smiled softly and nodded. “I cannot thank you enough, Twilight.”

“Actually, we can go one better.” Tank took a step forward. “I mean, if we’re going to be stuck here indeterminately anyway…” He shrugged. “…then we might as well help you with those Elements in the meantime, right?”

Twilight beamed. “I can’t wait to see what your Elements are. This is so exciting! We should… oh!”

Waterwing tilted her head.

“I just remembered something.” Twilight glanced between the three companions. “Would you be willing to tell us your real names? Since I’m guessing the ones you gave us before were made up.”

Scarlet gave a short bow. “I am Scarlet Lombardia. Pleased to meet you.”

Tank offered a brief salute. “My name’s Alexander Abrams.” He then turned to Waterwing as she smiled and waved. “And this is Mirielle Marcus!”

Their introduction was met with six blank stares.

Rarity smiled awkwardly. “Those are, erm…”

“…mighty fine names, sure,” Applejack offered, “but I think they might stand out a bit too much.”

Twilight nodded. “It would probably be best to keep your story - and, um, those names - just between us. We don’t know how other ponies might react.”

Rarity brushed a stray hair back into place. “The ponies of Ponyville are good at heart, but they’re… a bit dense, perhaps, and _very_ prone to gossip. We wouldn’t want anypony getting the wrong idea, you see.”

Tank sighed. “I guess that’s understandable, if kinda disappointing. I was hoping we could…”

Pinkie Pie tilted her head. “Could… what?”

Tank’s stomach gave a loud growl in protest of its emptiness. “I… just remembered food is a thing that exists.”

Scarlet smirked. “Perhaps we should return to the library for now? I suppose we ought to give those hayburgers an honest try this time.”

Waterwing nodded, licking her lips for emphasis.

Tank shrugged. “I guess. Man, being a herbivore is gonna take some getting used to.”

Twilight quirked an eyebrow. “Um… as opposed to what?”

Tank blinked. “Uh… I’ll explain later.”

“Okay, everypony!” Pinkie declared. “Meet me at Sugarcube Corner in two hours!” Without further ado, she sped off back toward town, a hot pink blur against the lush green landscape. The rest of the assembled ponies soon followed behind, albeit at a much more leisurely pace.

“There are all kinds of magical transportation options we could try,” Twilight explained. “Gateways, teleportation, warp portals…”

“I’m guessing one of those is what the Princess used to bring us back to town?” Tank mused.

Twilight nodded. “Precisely! Now, I’ve never heard of any of them being used to travel between worlds before, but it seems like the most logical starting place. I’ll have to see if Princess Celestia would be willing to send me a few extra books from my room back in Canterlot…”

“Um… Waterwing?”

At the sound of her voice, Waterwing landed gently beside Fluttershy.

“Do… you like animals?”

With a cheery grin, Waterwing nodded.

Fluttershy smiled softly. “Oh, thank goodness! I, um… take care of all kinds of animals back at my cottage. I can’t promise they’ll be anything like the ones from your world, but, um… if you wanted to come see them sometime…”

At this, Waterwing took to the air once again, flying in happy circles over Fluttershy’s head for a moment before returning to her side on the ground.

Rarity gently placed a hoof over Scarlet’s shoulder. “Do try to make yourselves comfortable while you’re here, darling. I’m sure Twilight will have you on your way home before you know it.”

Scarlet giggled softly. “With all this hospitality, it almost seems a greater concern that we might be hesitant to leave.” Her smile soon faded. “Though I do lament our inability to contact our loved ones; doubtless they would worry far less if they at least knew we were alive and unhurt.”

“That’ll just make your reunion all the sweeter,” Applejack suggested.

“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash agreed, rolling over lazily in the air above them. “I mean, since we don’t _usually_ have supervillains to fight off, Ponyville can get kind of boring sometimes… but it’s totally a cool place to stay. It’ll be loads of super awesome fun, I promise!”

Scarlet’s smile returned. “I look forward to it.”

 

Episode 1 - End


	12. Short: "Diplomacy"

Scarlet Starbeam’s eyes glazed over as she stared at the book propped open before her; she was hardly accustomed to spending such long stretches of time reading, and the unfamiliar script of these pony books wasn’t helping matters much. Granted, she did find herself thankful she could even read it in the first place… but after having spent the better part of the day cooped up in the library, this wasn’t much consolation.

After a moment’s stretch, she glanced at the clock to find that several hours had gone by without her noticing. “Whew… Twilight, might we have a rest soon? This is proving far more tiring than I anticipated…”

“Sure! Spike should be almost finished making dinner anyway.” With a flourish, Twilight Sparkle snatched up a nearby bookmark and laid it in the book she’d been reading as she closed it. “Actually… now that we have a moment, there’s something I wanted to ask you about.”

Scarlet blinked. “Oh? What might that be?”

“Well…” An eager grin slowly spread across Twilight’s face as she spun around to face Scarlet. “I was hoping you could tell me a few things about humans! I’d love to hear anything and everything you know. No detail is irrelevant!”

After a moment’s pause, Scarlet giggled softly. “Well, I doubt I could do the whole of human history and culture justice off the top of my head…” She paused a moment more to gather her thoughts. “…but perhaps I could offer serviceable answers if you had any particular questions in mind.”

Twilight’s gaze trailed along the ceiling as she pondered what to ask about first, her mind drifting from science to architecture, government to trade, art to music… when an earlier conversation suddenly resurfaced in her memory. “Oh, I remember now! There _was_ something I wanted to ask first.”

Scarlet nodded. “By all means.”

Twilight cleared her throat. “Okay, so… the other day, I remember Tank Buster saying something about needing to ‘get used to’ being a herbivore. What did he mean by that, exactly?”

“Humans are omnivores,” Scarlet explained. “Our diet consists of a balance of plant and meat products. The idea of subsisting exclusively on fruits and vegetables - also including hay, it would seem - is a rather… uncomfortably foreign one.”

“You, um… you eat meat, huh?” Twilight rubbed her neck and glanced away briefly. “Uh… so where does your meat come from, then?”

Scarlet rested her chin on her hoof. “Well, fishing must certainly be the most predominant segment of the industry, but farming of poultry and cattle is also fairly widespread…”

Twilight’s heart tripped on a beat. “Wait. Cattle? Does… does that mean you eat _cows_?”

“Why, of course!” Scarlet offered a pleasant smile. “I was always fond of a good rib eye steak myself.”

“I, that’s…” Twilight raised a hoof to her forehead. “Oh dear…”

Scarlet quirked an eyebrow. “Er, Twilight? Are you feeling alright? You suddenly look rather unwell…”

“I… think I need to go lie down.” Twilight stood up slowly. “Um… thanks for offering me some insight into what humans are like, Scarlet. I’ll think of… something else to ask about later.” With that, she made for the stairs to the upper floor.

“Dinner’s ready!”

Emerging from the kitchen carrying two large plates piled high with spaghetti, Spike watched as Twilight disappeared up the steps toward the bedroom and gave Scarlet a quizzical look.

Scarlet stared blankly after Twilight for a few seconds before finally meeting Spike’s gaze. “Was it something I said…?”


	13. Short: "Confusion"

Pinkie Pie grinned as she watched the latest batch of cupcakes through the oven window.

“Uh… shouldn’t we be working on the frosting?” Tank Buster chuckled quietly at Pinkie’s excitement. “I promise they’re not gonna run off while you’re not looking.”

Pinkie giggled as she trotted back over to the counter. “Thanks again for helping out. Baking is super duper fun, but it’s even more fun with a friend!”

Tank shrugged. “I wasn’t expecting Applejack to give me the day off, so I didn’t have any plans or anything.”

Pinkie hefted a large mixing bowl out of a nearby cupboard and quirked an eyebrow at Tank. “Yeah, but I figured you’d wanna spend it with Scarlet and Waterwing.”

“I mean… I did, but it didn’t exactly pan out.” Tank sat back for a moment, letting his gaze drift around Sugarcube Corner’s kitchen. “Scarlet is testing spells with Twilight, and Miri’s getting flying lessons from Rainbow Dash. Since I can’t really participate in either of those, well…”

Pinkie blinked as Tank’s voice trailed off. “Well okie dokie then! Let’s tackle that frosting!” Without further ado, she unceremoniously dumped the contents of a small paper bag into the mixing bowl. “Here, you can read off the ingredients from the recipe there! I already got the powdered sugar.”

Joining Pinkie at the counter, Tank glanced over the cookbook lying open in front of him and cleared his throat. “Right, let’s see… Two tablespoons of milk.”

In a flash, Pinkie filled a nearby measuring spoon with milk and splashed it into the bowl. “Okay, got it!”

“A teaspoon and a half of vanilla extract,” Tank continued.

“One and a half…” Pinkie spent the next several seconds very gently pouring the vanilla into the measuring spoon before carefully dribbling it into the bowl with the rest. “Okay, next!”

“Now we need…” Tank paused, staring quizzically at the recipe. “Wait, what does this mean? It just says the next ingredient is… a cup of rainbows.”

Pinkie giggled once again. “Oh, silly me! How could I forget about the _rainbows_ for the rainbow frosting? There’s a jar on the second shelf in the cabinet to your left.”

Following the given instructions, Tank soon produced a jar containing a viscous syrup that shined a vibrant gradient of colors from every conceivable angle, at which he stared incredulously for several long seconds. “You can’t possibly be telling me that these are literal rainbows. This is not how rainbows work.”

“Of course they are!” Pinkie’s tail swished happily. “Now, these are boiled down a bit, so you kinda wanna mix them with something instead of using them straight, but here!” With that, she deftly unscrewed the lid and dipped a spoon inside, which she then offered to Tank. “Try it! They’re pretty spicy!”

Tank spent several more seconds staring at the rainbow-covered spoon before giving it a tentative lick. “Oh! Uh… wow, that is pretty spicy.”

“Right?” Satisfied, Pinkie scooped up some of the jar’s contents with a small measuring cup and dumped it in with the rest of the ingredients. “Rainbow get! Okay, now what?”

To her confusion, instead of responding, Tank doubled over in a fit of giggles.

“Hehehehee!” Pinkie giggled along for a moment, but quickly stopped. “Wait, what are we laughing at?”

“ _Spicy rainbows!_ ” Tank threw his forehooves in the air. “Every time I think a magical land of talking ponies can’t possibly get any sillier, it manages to throw me a curveball. This place is an absolute delight!” After a deep breath and a few more giggles, he managed to calm his laughter. “Anyway… that was the last ingredient. Now it just needs to be beaten with a whisk.”

“Okie doke!” Pinkie grinned at her baking companion. “You wanna give it a try? There’s one on the counter behind you.”

Tank blinked, glancing over his shoulder at the implement in question. “Oh, uh, sure. Just one quick thing first…” At this, he held up his forehooves and gave Pinkie a sheepish grin. “Any chance you could… remind me how to grasp objects with these again?”


	14. Short: "Fatigue"

"On your left!"

A colorful blur shot past Waterwing and through the ring of clouds in front of her. Sweat beading on her forehead, she put on a burst of speed and banked to one side, taking her through the ring and lining her up with the next one. For a moment, it seemed as though she might actually begin closing the gap between her and her opponent, but just as she passed through the next ring...

"On your left!"

Waterwing beat her wings forward, slowing to a stop and flailing her legs in frustration as the same blur blew past her almost effortlessly.

The blur, none other than Rainbow Dash, spotted her racing partner giving up and quickly made her way over. "Hey, come on! I think you got a little closer that time!"

At this, Waterwing only scowled and wiped the sweat from her face.

Rainbow offered an apologetic grin. "Or... maybe we could take a break instead?" She pointed a hoof at something over Waterwing's shoulder. "That looks like a good spot to chill for a bit."

Waterwing's eyes darted around as she attempted to decipher what Rainbow meant; there was nothing in the direction she'd pointed aside from the same partly cloudy sky all around them. Rainbow Dash gave her a knowing smirk and flew over to a nearby cloud, landing atop it gently and taking a seat before beckoning her friend over. Waterwing gave a silent sigh as she plopped down on the cloud herself.

Rainbow smiled eagerly at Waterwing's fatigued expression. "Hey now, don't sell yourself short! I'm the best flier in Ponyville, that's all. You're actually really good for somepony who's only been flying for a few days!"

Waterwing shook her head dismissively, staring down at the cloud on which they sat. As Rainbow Dash watched, tears slowly began welling up in her eyes.

"Oh no, not again..." Rainbow quickly scanned the skies around them for something to use as a distraction. "He-hey, look over there! Doesn't that cloud look like Pinkie Pie's hair?"

Blinking the tears out of her eyes, Waterwing's gaze locked onto the cloud in question.

"And there!" Rainbow continued. "It's drifting toward that one that looks like a cupcake. I bet you she's gonna eat it!"

Waterwing quickly found herself stifling a silent giggle with her hoof, taking a moment to wipe her eyes before looking back over at Rainbow.

Rainbow took a few tentative steps closer and sat next to Waterwing, gesturing out at the skies around them. "I never get bored of hanging out up here. You can practically see all of Equestria! Look over there; you see that shape on the side of the mountain?"

Waterwing's eyes scanned the mountains in question, and she nodded as she spotted a very large structure covered in tall spires jutting out of the mountainside.

"That's Canterlot, the capital," Rainbow explained. "It's a few hours by train, but we could totally fly there in like twenty minutes if we wanted. The ponies there are mostly stuck-up unicorns though, so I only go when I have to."

Waterwing nodded once again, her jaw stretching slowly as she let out a yawn.

Rainbow smirked. "I guess that race kinda took it out of you, didn't it? If you're tired, we can totally take a nap up here."

Waterwing blinked, the idea taking a moment to register in her head. As it did so, she briefly glanced over her shoulder in apparent confusion, scratching her head and pointing down at their cloudy perch for clarification.

"Yeah!" Rainbow stretched and let herself fall backward with a gentle _poof_.

After a moment of hesitation, Waterwing curled up on the cloud and gently laid her head down.

"The warm sun, the cool breeze, the soft cloud..." Rainbow casually folded her forelegs behind her head. "After this, I bet you'll never wanna nap anywhere else. What do you think?"

A quick glance was all it took to reveal that Waterwing was already asleep.

With a quiet sigh, Rainbow Dash sat up and gave Waterwing a gentle pat on the head. "I guess flying isn't the only thing wearing you out here, huh...?"


	15. Short: "Machination"

His fury knew no bounds.

He traced over the steps in his aching head once again in an attempt to decipher the problem. The rift continued to pulsate before him, the energies that bled feebly from it offering him access once again to a hint of the dark powers he hadn’t enjoyed in… well, he wasn’t sure how long now; after the first few centuries of imprisonment, time itself tends to seem ever more like an illusion. More to the point, his captors betrayed no hint of awareness of either its existence or of the strength it had returned to him; thus, he concluded, the problem must lay elsewhere.

He peered into the rift’s incomprehensible depths. Though he couldn’t see the strange creatures that lurked beyond it, he could quite easily sense the otherworldly magic they radiated. Convinced though he was that these entities held the key to his liberation, studying them was proving troublesome at best; there seemed to be no pattern to the number that appeared, or to the frequency with which they did so. A great deal of trial and error combined with mountains of patience had yielded to him a spell that, in theory, should not only pull some of these creatures through the rift into Equestria, but also leave them briefly susceptible to… let’s call it _suggestion_.

He had seized the first opportunity he’d been granted when he sensed three of the creatures lingering for an unusually long time behind the rift. Were they studying him as well? He decided it didn’t matter. Rather, what _did_ was his certainty that this had gone off without a hitch; he remembered the resistance he felt as his quarry seemed to fight against his carefully crafted spell, like a particularly feisty bass on the end of a fishing line. However, just as he’d felt them pass through the rift… the exertion finished taking its toll. He’d staggered, watching three brilliant lights in red, green, and blue erupting from the rift and flying out of sight as he finally succumbed to exhaustion.

His rage finished subsiding as the answer came to him. He’d been too hasty, too greedy; these creatures were more resilient than he’d bargained for, and impressive though it was that he’d managed this much under the circumstances, the effort of capturing three at once had proven beyond his still meager capabilities. Where the creatures had ended up, he neither knew nor cared; they were now of no use to him, and thus irrelevant.

He would prepare the spell again, of course… and this time, he would once more tap into that enduring patience. This time, he would wait for the perfect prey - a solitary target, the most radiant he could find.

This time, the spell would work. This time, he would lay claim to what should have been his all those centuries ago.

Until then… he would wait.

 

Intermission 1 - End


	16. Episode 2-1

“Howdy, Tank Buster!”

The warm afternoon sun shone down on the main pathway into the Everfree Forest.

Tank set down the heavy mallet in his hooves and wiped the sweat from his forehead as he turned toward the source of the greeting. Upon discovering it to be a certain little red-haired filly, he smiled. “Hey, Apple Bloom. Heading off to see Zecora again?”

Apple Bloom nodded, grinning. “Uh-huh! Today she’s gonna teach me how to make a water-walking potion!”

Tank blinked. “Oh, wow. That sounds really cool, actually.”

“Yup!” Apple Bloom hopped up and down excitedly. “I don’t wanna be late though, so I’ll see you later!”

“Have fun!” Tank waved after her as she galloped on down the path.

Life in Ponyville had proven itself fairly idyllic so far. Granted, it certainly hadn’t been uneventful; an upstart performer, a drowsy dragon, and a rhyming zebra - just to name a few - had certainly seen to that. Still, Tank found it fairly difficult to stay worried for very long about being indefinitely stuck in Equestria; it was just too _comfortable_ for that. Well, for the most part.

“Hey, Tank!”

The sun had just begun to skirt the horizon by the time the next interruption came along, this time in the form of a diminutive purple dragon.

Much as he had earlier, Tank lowered his mallet and glanced over his shoulder. “Oh! Hey, Spike. What’s up?”

“Twilight asked me to, um…” Spike stopped mid-sentence, scratching his head. “Wait, what are you doing again?”

Lifting it briefly over his head, Tank brought the mallet down onto a wooden post perched loosely in the dirt at the edge of the path, planting it firmly in place. “Applejack recommended I ask Mayor Mare if she had any jobs I could take. You remember that ruin we told you about? The old royal palace way back in the forest, where we found the Elements of Harmony?”

Spike pouted and crossed his arms. “Yeah. I can’t believe I slept through the whole thing…”

Tank chuckled. “Anyway, now that it’s been rediscovered, the Mayor wants to be able to explore the place; there are tons of old books and relics and whatnot in there that could be recovered and restored.” Setting the mallet down once again, he pulled another wooden post from a nearby cart and stood it up a few feet past the one he’d just pounded into place. “As I’m sure you’re already aware, though, the forest is a big dark maze full of monsters. It’s way too dangerous for most people to just waltz on in whenever they please, so she’s hired me to line the path with fencing and these magic lamps to make things a bit safer.”

Spike scratched his head. “But why have just one pony for such a big project? It’ll take you forever to build fences from here all the way to the castle.”

“For the same reason they need to be built in the first place,” Tank explained, lifting the mallet once again to strike the new fence post solidly into the ground. “The forest is dangerous; normally, she’d have to hire both workers to do the building and guards to keep them safe, but since I already have combat experience, I don’t need protecting.”

“E-Even from t-t-timberwolves?!”

Spike stumbled backward, pointing a trembling claw at something a ways past Tank. Immediately dropping his mallet, Tank whirled around to find two large canine creatures marching slowly up the path toward him. Their bodies were composed entirely of rotting logs and discarded twigs and branches; in spite of this, their eyes glowed a menacing green and they bared long rows of razor-sharp fangs.

“Oh, is that what those are called?” Tank rolled his eyes. “Ugh, I hate these things. They smell bad, and they won’t leave me alone.”

“W-We should probably run!” Spike scrambled to his feet and began backing away slowly.

Tank waved a forehoof in Spike’s direction, not taking his eyes off the timberwolves. “Chill out, dude. I got this.” With that, he began trotting toward them casually. “Afternoon, gentlemen! Enjoying the warm weather?”

As though annoyed by the flippant greeting, the timberwolves immediately broke into a run, charging straight at Tank.

“Tch, rude.” Tank held his ground as the timberwolves barreled toward him.

With a snarl, the first wolf took a mighty leap aimed at the spot where Tank was standing. As soon as it left the ground, however, Tank leapt forward in turn, a quick tumble landing him right underneath it.

**WHAM**

A well-placed kick to the belly sent the timberwolf flying apart, broken twigs and logs scattering across the path.

The second wolf, already bearing down on him, snapped its jaws shut just barely short of Tank’s face as he reared up on his hind legs to avoid it. The familiar bipedal stance gave him an idea, and as he toppled forward, he threw a hoof forward in a fair approximation of a punch, connecting solidly with the wolf’s mossy snout.

**CRASH**

The splintery remains of the timberwolf crumbled to the ground in front of him.

Tank gave an amused chuckle as he turned back around. “See? No big deal. All it takes is one good hit and they fall apart.”

Spike, having finally climbed to his feet, dusted himself off and pointed a claw at one of the fallen wolves. “Uh… you do know they regenerate, right?”

Tank sighed in irritation. “Yeah, that too. At the very least, I figured out a way to slow them down a bit.” With that, he hefted the largest log he could find from the remains of the second timberwolf, lifted it over his head… and with a grunt of effort, hurled it deep into the forest.

As if on cue, the remaining timberwolf debris clattered to life, tumbling end over end as it disappeared into the underbrush.

“Alrighty! Now that that’s settled…” Tank brushed the stray splinters out of his mane and began marching his way back toward Spike. “I think you said Twilight waAAUGH”

A cloud of dust accompanied Tank’s sudden disappearance as the ground beneath him gave way, his inquiry soon replaced with a fit of coughing.

Spike jogged forward, peering over the edge of the pit, at the bottom of which lay a sprawled-out Tank. “You okay?”

Tank sat up, rubbing his head. “Ow. Yeah, I’m fine.”

Spike reached out, grasping Tank’s hoof and hoisting him up as he climbed out. “What even was that, anyway?”

“Sinkholes. At least, that’s as near as I can figure.” Tank once again found himself brushing debris out of his mane. “This isn’t the first one I’ve found, and I doubt it’ll be the last. I think they were caused by that crazy storm we had a few days ago…” The thought made him shiver.

“That must have been while I was away in Canterlot.” Spike scratched his head. “I think Twilight said she had an unplanned sleepover with Rarity and Applejack that night.”

Tank quirked an eyebrow. “Wait, a… sleepover? How old are these girls, anyway?” After a moment’s pause, he shook his head. “Eh, whatever. I guess it doesn’t really matter.”

Spike nodded. “Anyway, Twilight wanted to see you. Somepony sent her a strange book in the mail, and she thinks it might be a clue about your Elements! She wanted you to have a look at it with her.”

Tank blinked. “Oh! Uh, sure. I just need to toss a sheet of plywood over this hole and pack up for the day. Tell her I’ll be along in a bit?”

“Okay!” Spike waved goodbye as he took off back toward town.


	17. Episode 2-2

A knock came at the door to the Golden Oak Library.

Absorbed as she was in the strange book before her, Twilight Sparkle didn’t notice at first; it was only after a gentle prod from Spike that she called out. “Come on in!”

The door opened with a gentle _creak_ and Tank Buster stepped inside, rolling one of his forelegs at the shoulder as he went. “You know, I’m starting to think I could get used to this whole ‘earth pony’ thing. I can pound fence posts into place in one hit, and I can do it all day without getting tired. I’m a little worried I’ll be sore in the morning though…”

Twilight shook her head, smiling pleasantly. “I’m sure you’ll be fine; earth ponies have always been good at this sort of thing. Does that mean your first day working for the Mayor went well?”

Tank nodded as he approached the table at which Twilight sat. “Actually, yeah. I’m still at the outskirts of the forest, so I haven’t seen anything tougher than timberwolves just yet, and… they’re not much to write home about.” His train of thought derailed as he glanced at the open book in front of her, and he raised an eyebrow. “So uh, what book is that?”

Twilight closed the cover and slid it toward Tank. “I’m still trying to figure that out, actually. It arrived at the library by mail this morning, with no return address. I have no idea who sent it.”

“That’s… weird.” Tank took a seat beside Twilight as he picked up the book and peered at the cover. “'Filgaia Fables…’?”

Twilight sighed quietly, deflating a little. “A part of me was hoping that sounded familiar to you.”

“Not in the slightest.” Tank shook his head as he opened it and began flipping pages. “Let’s see. 'Zephyr, the West Wind…’ 'Sword of Justine…’ 'Goddess Raftina…’?”

Twilight gestured at the book with a hoof as she spoke. “From what I can tell, it’s a collection of fairy tale-like stories, but I can’t make heads or tails of them. They keep talking about 'guardians’ and 'metal demons’ and other things I’ve never heard of before, without really offering any context.”

Tank continued staring at the book as though willing it by sheer determination to reveal its secrets. “O…kay, I think we’ve moved on from 'weird’ into the realm of 'completely bizarre.’” He paused for a moment to scratch his head. “I mean, I’m assuming you wanted me to look it over because you think it might be tied to the Elements somehow, but I can’t say I’m convinced. It’s a strange book to be sure, but what makes you think it’s at all relevant?”

With a glow of her horn, Twilight lifted the book from Tank’s grip, flipped to a page near the beginning, and set it back down in his hooves. “Take a look at that opening passage there.”

Tank scanned the page for a moment before clearing his throat.

 _“These aspects of the heart, long lost to time_  
_We pay our tribute thus in song and rhyme_  
_Forgotten now, they shall await their due_  
_Till breath of life is granted them anew…”_

Spike peered at the book over Tank’s shoulder. “Well? What do you think?”

Tank stared at the page blankly. “I think whoever wrote this was being pretentious. Did it really need to be in iambic pentameter?”

Twilight rolled her eyes and gave a small sigh. “Tank, it’s a _riddle!_ Look at the first line there. Aspects of the heart that were lost to time? That sounds suspiciously like forgotten Elements of Harmony if you ask me.”

“Hmm…” Tank gave the page another cursory reading before shaking his head once again and lowering the book. “I dunno if I’m gonna be much help here then. Nobody beats me when it comes to block puzzles, but I was never any good at riddles. Those were always Riley’s gig…”

“Wait a sec. Can I see that?” Spike pointed a claw at the book.

After a moment’s curious hesitation, Tank set it down on the table beside him. “Uh… sure, knock yourself out.”

Spike stared at the page for a moment, stroking his chin in thought. “Aha! That’s it!”

Having spent the past moment or so holding her hoof up to her mouth in anticipation, Twilight had to lower it before speaking. “What is it, Spike?”

“I thought something in here sounded familiar,” he explained, “and I think I found it. Here, in the last line - didn’t we read something in an old history book about a 'breath of life’ just a few days ago?”

Twilight gasped. With no further ado, she leapt out of her seat, dashing across the room to a stack of books arranged neatly next to a comfortable-looking pile of pillows and lifting them into the air with her magic, the better to scan their titles as quickly as possible. “Here it is!” she soon declared, returning to the table with a leather-bound book that showed signs of advanced age.

“Wow, that’s a history book?” Tank quirked an eyebrow. “It looks old enough to have been part of history itself.”

Twilight quickly flipped her way through the book, skimming page after page in search of a familiar passage. “Here it is! Spike, you’re a genius!” She punctuated this sentence by giving him an affectionate noogie.

“Haha! Okay okay, stop!” Spike brushed Twilight’s hoof away from his head, grinning in spite of himself.

“Right, now let’s see…” Twilight paced back and forth for a moment, the book hovering magically before her as she re-read the passage. “According to this book, many ancient cultures believed that _naming_ an object gave it a life of its own. This gift was referred to as… the 'breath of life!’ Tank, do you know what this means?”

For a moment, Tank looked as confused as ever… until the gears in his mind finally began to click into place. “Wait, then…” He sat back on his haunches and began tracing something in the air before him with his hoof. “Carry the two…” Suddenly, it came to him. “So to rediscover these Elements, all we have to do is figure out what their names are?”

Twilight nodded fervently, grinning as she snapped the history book closed and set it aside. “That’s my best hypothesis so far, at least.”

Tank scratched his head. “Well, I’ll admit this idea is a bit more compelling than it was a minute ago, and it’s the only real lead we have so far, but…” He shrugged. “It almost sounds too easy when you put it that way.”

“I have a feeling it’ll be a bit tougher than you think,” Twilight suggested. “I’ve been compiling notes on friendship since I arrived in Ponyville; let’s have a look at them together and - ”

**CRASH**

The front door slammed open as a colorful pegasus burst through it, skidding to a stop in the center of the room.

“Wh - ?” Tank whirled around at the sudden noise. “Geez, Rainbow Dash. Where’s the fire?”

“Guys, guys!” Rainbow Dash hopped into the air, hovering as she pointed at the sky through a nearby window. “There’s a huge storm coming this way!”

Twilight stared at Rainbow quizzically. “Another one? Didn’t we just have a big storm a few days ago?”

Rainbow waved her forehooves frantically. “There was an accident at the weather factory in Cloudsdale! A storm cloud got loose, and it’s headed straight for Ponyville! It’s too big for the weather patrol to stop in time, so we’re trying to warn everypony to stay indoors.”

Tank froze in place, his eyes wide as dinner plates.

Twilight peered out the window. “How long do we have until it arrives?”

“Uh…” Rainbow Dash glanced at the clock. “…About four seconds.”


	18. Episode 2-3

A rumble of thunder shook the Golden Oak Library.

“GAAAAH”

Tank Buster made a mad dash for the pillow pile, burying himself beneath it at blinding speed. Within seconds, all that was visible of him were a green snout and a pair of terrified eyes.

“What the hay?” Rainbow Dash’s eyes darted back and forth between Tank’s hiding place and the spot where he’d been standing just a moment prior.

“Oh no…” Frowning, Twilight slowly approached the pillow pile and sat beside it. “I heard about this from Big Macintosh after that last storm we had. Poor Tank has - ”

“Wait a sec,” Rainbow interjected. “You heard something from Big Mac that wasn’t ‘eeyup’ or 'nnnope’?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Yes, Rainbow Dash. Big Macintosh does, in fact, talk. Just… not very often.” She glanced away briefly at this admission. “Now may I finish?”

Rainbow shrugged. “Eh, sure.”

Twilight’s expression softened once more as her gaze fell upon the petrified pony in the pillow pile. “Tank Buster has astraphobia.”

“Gesundheit,” Rainbow Dash offered.

Twilight sighed audibly and raised a hoof to her forehead. “Astraphobia is an abnormal fear of thunder and lightning. In other words, he’s terrified of thunderstorms.”

Rainbow Dash was silent for a moment as she landed slowly and joined Twilight by the pillow pile. After a moment of biting her lip nervously, she spoke. “Aw man, I didn’t know. I’m really sorry I couldn’t warn you guys sooner…”

Twilight shook her head. “Don’t blame yourself, Rainbow. If you weren’t fast enough to warn everypony in time, then nopony would’ve been.”

Spike peered over Twilight’s shoulder. “So what do we do now?”

Twilight gave one of the pillows a gentle pat with her hoof as Tank trembled beneath it. “The best thing to do is to stay here with him until the weather clears up. We shouldn’t be going outside anyway now that the storm’s here.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Rainbow agreed. “For anypony to go out now, they’d have to be - ”

**SLAM**

“APPLE BLOOM!”

Rainbow Dash’s statement was interrupted by the sound of the library door bursting open as a thoroughly sodden Applejack charged through it, looking frantically about the room. “Have any of y'all seen Apple Bloom?”

Briefly taken aback by the orange pony’s abrupt arrival, Twilight glanced between Rainbow Dash and Tank Buster for a moment before responding. “Er… no, we haven’t. Is everything alright?”

Applejack shook her head, flinging a cascade of droplets from her hat in all directions as she did so. “She was supposed to be back from Zecora’s by now. I can’t bear the thought that she’s stuck somewhere out there in the storm…”

Twilight trotted forward and put a gentle hoof over Applejack’s shoulder. “I’m sure she’s fine, Applejack. If she was on her way back to the farm when the storm arrived, it’s very likely she just stopped somewhere to take shelter from the rain. If we ask around town, I’m sure we’ll find her before long.”

Applejack looked up at Twilight and nodded, adjusting her hat. “Yeah… you’re right. Thanks, Twi.”

Twilight offered a reassuring smile before turning to look over her shoulder. “Come on, Rainbow. We’ll need your help too.”

Rainbow scratched her head and gestured at the pillow pile. “Um… okay, but what about Tank? You just said somepony’s gotta stay with him.”

Twilight blinked, hesitating as she pondered the problem. After a moment, she returned to the pillow pile and crouched low to the floor until she was at eye level with the pony buried within. “Hey… Tank?”

Tank turned his head a fraction of an inch to meet her gaze.

Twilight smiled softly at him, just as she had with Applejack. “Will you be alright if we leave you with Spike while we go looking for Apple Bloom? I promise we’ll be back before you know it.”

After a moment’s pause, Tank’s response came in the form of an almost imperceptibly small nod.

Twilight’s smile broadened as she stood back up. “Stay strong. I know you can do it.” With that, she turned back toward the others. “Okay then. Spike, I need you to come over here and sit with Tank. Applejack and Rainbow Dash, let’s get moving. We need to stay in sight of each other at all times for safety’s sake; the storm’s not getting any lighter by the looks of things. Ready, girls?”

Applejack’s expression hardened. “You bet your bottom bit I am.”

Rainbow Dash threw her forehoof into the air. “Let’s do this!”

“Let’s go!” With a glow of her horn, Twilight threw the door open and the three ponies charged out into the darkening storm. Spike watched as that same magic closed the door behind them before jogging his way over to the pillow pile and unceremoniously plopping down onto one.

Never really sure what to do with himself without Twilight around, the little dragon spent a moment staring at the claws on one hand before a sudden thought struck him. “Wait a second…” The pillow beneath him slid easily on the smooth wooden floor as he spun around to face Tank. “Does anypony else know about the sinkholes on the forest path?”

It seemed to take a moment for this question to sink in, but when it did, the force of Tank sitting bolt upright sent some pillows flying several feet away. “No… no, I don’t think they do!” The realization seemed to be momentarily distracting him from the storm as he rose from his hiding place and began pacing slowly. “I didn’t find the first one until just after Apple Bloom passed by, and I didn’t get the chance to mention it to anyone just now because we were distracted by that weird book.”

Spike raised his hands to his face in alarm. “So does that mean Apple Bloom didn’t make it back because she fell in one and got stuck and now she’s trapped in a hole in the middle of a storm?”

“If it is, then the others will never find her in time,” Tank declared. “That settles it, then. It’s up to - ”

A loud thunderclap headed this statement off at the pass, resulting in Tank immediately diving underneath the nearby table and covering his head with his forelegs. _“Nope nope nope it’s up to somebody else 'cause I’m not going anywhere no thank you”_

Spike tugged insistently at Tank’s tail, slowly dragging him out from under the table. “Tank, come on! Apple Bloom needs our help!”

“Our… W-Wait, that’s it!” In spite of the trembling, Tank beamed as the idea came to him. “Y-You can go f-find the girls and t-tell them where she is!”

Spike put his hands on his hips and rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah, sure! I’m totally going to catch up to three full-grown ponies who are running full tilt through a thunderstorm when all I’ve got are these stubby little baby dragon legs.” He stuck one out and pointed at it for emphasis.

Tank hesitated for a moment before offering an encouraging grin. “Uhh… I believe in you?”

This elicited little more than an impatient glare from Spike.

Tank’s smile faded as he gave a quiet sigh of defeat. “I… really have to do this, don’t I?”

Spike nodded. “I know you’re scared, but Apple Bloom might be in serious danger. We have to try.” With that, he climbed onto the prone pony’s back and gave him a gentle pat. “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine as long as I’m here!”

Slowly, steadily, Tank rose on four shaky legs and made his way to the front door, opening it with one trembling hoof. The town was nearly pitch black as the rain came down in sheets; where the street lights weren’t lit, he could barely see more than a few yards through it. As far as Tank was concerned, he may as well have been staring at a brick wall for how willing he was to walk through that doorway.

_“Stay strong. I know you can do it.”_

While this ostensibly hadn’t been what she’d meant, Twilight’s words echoed in Tank’s mind nonetheless. His gaze lingered on the falling rain as his mind processed the task ahead of him, prompting the trembling to pick up once again. “…Okay. I can do this, I can do this. Apple Bloom needs our help. I can do this…” He closed his eyes, the better to focus on slowing his breathing and retaining what control he could manage over his nerves. “Okay. I’m… I’m gonna count to five, and then we’re gonna go. We’re gonna… we’re gonna do this thing. Okay.” Another deep breath punctuated this sentence. “One… two - ”

**RUMBLE**

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

Tank’s eyes shot open as the loudest thunderclap yet rolled its way through town as though swallowing it whole. With a scream that might have curdled milk, he took off like a bullet out the door and into the storm, aiming as best he could in the gathering dark for the Everfree Forest.


	19. Episode 2-4

“I’m very sorry, dearie, but I haven’t seen anypony else outside since the storm hit,” the blue earth pony explained, shaking her head.

A quite thoroughly soaked Twilight Sparkle sighed. “Alright. Thanks anyway, Mrs. Cake.” With that, she turned back toward the road.

“You be careful out there, now!” Mrs. Cake called after Twilight as she closed the sweet shop door.

Twilight galloped toward a nearby overhanging roof, beneath which Rainbow Dash and Applejack were already waiting.

Applejack fiddled nervously with her hat. “Any luck?”

Twilight shook her head. “Nothing. I really thought she would be somewhere on the main road, but nopony’s seen her.”

Rainbow Dash cringed. “So if she’s not at the farm, and she’s not in town, then…”

“…she must still be somewhere in the Everfree!” Applejack concluded, her eyes nearly the size of dinner plates. “C'mon, we gotta hurry!”

“Applejack, wait!” Twilight leaped in front of Applejack to stop her from charging off into the storm.

Applejack glared. “We ain’t got time for this, Twilight! My baby sister’s still out there! What the hay are you stopping me for?”

Twilight’s expression softened, but she stood her ground. “I heard a report earlier that there have been timberwolf sightings near the forest in the past few days. They’re dangerous enough under the light of day; in a storm like this, we would never see them coming.”

“T-Timberwolves?!” Applejack practically screeched. “Land sakes, I’d never have let her off on her own like that if I’d known…!”

Twilight nodded. “That’s why I want to get a second opinion first.”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “A second opinion? From who?”

Applejack visibly relaxed as the answer came to her. “From somepony who was out there all day building a fence.”

Twilight nodded. “If he saw anything out of the ordinary, that might be all the clue we need.” She took a step forward and put a gentle hoof over Applejack’s shoulders. “We’ll find her, I promise. Let’s go talk to Tank and see if - ”

“…aaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAA”

A milk-curdling scream accompanied a blur of green and purple shooting past the three ponies at blinding speed.

“AAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaa…”

For several seconds, the three simply stared.

Finally, Twilight blinked. “Was that… Tank? And Spike? They went by so fast, it’s hard to tell…”

Rainbow scratched her head. “It… looks like they’re headed toward the forest.”

“Well that sure answers our question, don’t it? Let’s go!” Without another moment of hesitation, Applejack took off in pursuit, hooves kicking up mud as she galloped away. Twilight and Rainbow Dash exchanged very brief glances before following behind her.

 

* * *

 

It felt like every fiber of his being was screaming at him to turn back.

Even in the dim light, Tank could see the road split up ahead. Taking the alternate path would lead him to Fluttershy’s cottage; surely she wouldn’t begrudge him the shelter? If he showed up at her door, sopping wet and trembling, he’d be warm and dry before he knew it. Sitting by the fire, wrapped in a towel, and nursing a hot cup of tea… That had to be the best plan he’d heard all day.

“Come on, Tank, we’re almost there! You’re doing great!” Spike gave Tank a reassuring pat.

A small sigh escaped Tank as he remembered that retreat wasn’t an option. Gritting his teeth, he charged straight ahead, the path to Fluttershy foregone in an instant.

From his perch on Tank’s back, Spike stood up, peering through the pouring rain as they reached the mouth of the forest path. “We made it! But where could she be? I don’t see any sign of her…”

Tank skidded to a stop in the mud, shaking like the leaves on the nearby trees under the torrent of rain hitting them. A sharp intake of breath, and…

“APPLE BLOOM!”

A moment passed, but no sound could be heard over the rain. Tank took off running once again, frantically looking this way and that for any sign of the little filly. “Please be okay, please be okay, please be - ”

**RUMBLE**

“AAAAUGH”

In an instant, Tank went from charging full tilt down the path to falling snout-first into the mud, his passenger tumbling from his back and landing nearby. As Spike watched, Tank curled up on the ground and desperately tried to cover his head with his forelegs. “No no no no no, please make it stop…!”

“…eeeeelp!”

Tank gasped. His ears perked up as he lifted his head, the better to pick out the source of the sound. “I heard something! Where was that?”

“Over here!” Spike waved Tank over to a sinkhole even larger than the one they’d found earlier that day, ten feet wide and at least as many deep. Tank approached it with shaky steps and peered over the edge.

“Apple Bloom…!”

An exhausted-looking Apple Bloom peered up at Tank from halfway down the now-flooded hole, too deep to stand in but too shallow to climb out. Muddy hoof marks and scrapes around the edges told a tale of numerous failed escape attempts that had left her with little recourse beyond sitting there treading water. As Tank watched, her head dipped under the surface for a couple of seconds before she breached again, gasping desperately for air.

“Help!” Apple Bloom flailed desperately, panting hard between words. “Tank! Help… hurry…!”

“Hang on!” Tank immediately laid flat on his belly, reaching down over the edge as far as his forelegs would stretch. “You’re gonna be fine! Here, grab on!”

“O-Okay!” Apple Bloom swam forward until she was almost directly beneath Tank and reached as high as she could, but it wasn’t enough; scant inches still separated their hooves. “Rrgh… can’t… reach…”

Tank gritted his teeth once again. “Okay… okay, here we go. Everybody chill out, I got this.” A careful nudge of his hind leg put him a little closer, then another, until…

“Gotcha!”

Tank’s hooves finally came together around Apple Bloom’s forelegs, causing her to emit a sigh of relief audible even over the roar of the storm. A second later, Tank inched forward yet again.

Apple Bloom blinked. “Uh… Tank…?”

Tank gave her a nervous grin. “Everything is fine! Totally not slipping. Just stay calm. Breathe! Breathing is good.” Try as he might, he’d already slipped too far to see anything over his shoulder but the ominous trees of the Everfree looming over the pathway. “Spike! I could use a little help over here!”

Several seconds passed, but saw no response.

“Spike? SPIKE!” Tank’s eyes darted between the dark clouds above and the muddy water below. “Okay, so Spike ran off somewhere. That’s fine! No need to worry. Let’s just… let’s just stay calm and - ”

**RUMBLE**

“AAAAAAAA”

Tank flailed in absolute panic, very nearly dropping Apple Bloom in the process. In regaining his grip on her, however, he’d lost what traction his hind hooves had in the mud, and he began sliding much more rapidly over the edge, inches from being trapped in the hole himself.

“Gotcha!”

Something grabbed onto Tank’s hind legs just as he lost the last of his grip on the edge and pulled both him and Apple Bloom out of the hole, causing the two to land in the mud with a _splat_.

“Didn’t think I’d leave you hanging, did you?” Rainbow Dash gave the both of them a confident smirk.

The sound of muddy hoofbeats rang out a second later as Twilight and Applejack caught up, accompanied by none other than Spike.

In spite of himself, Tank spent a moment scratching his head. “Oh, so that’s where he went.”

“You made it!” Twilight grinned up at Rainbow. “Good catch, Rainbow Dash.”

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack didn’t stop running until she’d scooped up Apple Bloom in her hooves. “Moon and stars, June bug, I thought I’d lost you. I’m so glad you’re alright…”

Apple Bloom trembled, but smiled all the same. “I’m fine, Applejack! Really, I am. Tank came and found me…”

“Hey, can I interject for just a sec?”

Five heads turned toward Tank, who stood once again on shaky legs. “Is there any chance this conversation could happen back at the library? ‘Cause I need a roof over my head _right the void now._ ”

“Oh!” Twilight winced. “Oh goodness, I almost forgot…! Come on, everypony - let’s get back to the library, quick!”


	20. Episode 2-5

The rain had already begun to diminish as the door to the Golden Oak library creaked open, four sodden ponies and their two passengers filing their way inside.

Spike hopped down from Twilight Sparkle’s back as she shook some of the water from her mane. “Wait here, everypony. There are some towels in the linen closet upstairs,” she offered, making her way to the staircase.

As Applejack sat down, Apple Bloom gently slid from her back and came to rest on the floor beside her, sleeping peacefully.

Rainbow Dash held her wings outstretched, the better to let them dry, and briefly looked over Apple Bloom. “Is she gonna be okay?”

Applejack gave her sister a soft smile and a gentle pat with her hoof. “She’ll be fine now. Just needs some rest is all - poor thing’s exhausted from her ordeal.”

Spike pointed a claw over Rainbow’s shoulder. “Okay… now what about _him?_ ”

Tank Buster sat hunched over a few feet away, alternating between panting heavily and giggling to himself.

“That’s a totally different bushel of apples,” Applejack admitted. “You alright over there, sugarcube?”

“I’m… I’m fine, I promise!” Tank slowly turned on the spot, raising a hoof to his forehead as he fought back another wave of giggles. “Just coming down from the… from the adrenaline rush is all.” He punctuated this declaration with an attempt at a series of deep breaths. “Hoo boy…”

“Tank…” Applejack’s soft smile returned. “There’s something I probably ought to say to you after everything that just happened.”

Tank deflated a little, his gaze sinking to the floor. “I know. Look… I’m _really_ sorry.”

Applejack recoiled like he’d just sprouted claws and fangs. “What in the…? What’ve you got to apologize for?”

“This whole thing could’ve been avoided if I’d been paying more attention,” Tank explained, gesturing with his forehooves as he spoke. “I knew about the sinkholes, and I’d been fighting off timberwolves for half the afternoon. I should’ve stuck around and waited for her, but I let myself get sidetracked at the last minute.”

“What’s with everypony and blaming themselves today?” Twilight asked as she emerged from the stairway, already draped in a towel. Several more were held aloft in her magic, which she distributed to the other wet ponies and dragon in the room. “If that’s true, then it’s also my fault for distracting you when I asked you to stop by.”

“And mine for letting her go all by herself,” Applejack added, gently tucking a towel around the sleeping Apple Bloom before rubbing her mane furiously with hers. “Instead of sitting around blaming ourselves, let’s just be thankful she’s safe now and agree to learn from our mistakes for next time. Besides, you ran straight into a thunderstorm to save her! I couldn’t possibly thank you enough.”

Tank rubbed the back of his neck, looking less than convinced. “I mean… if you say so.”

Rainbow Dash wrapped her towel around her tail and gave it a hearty wring. “So where’d you get your aster… abra… astro…” She shook her head. “So what’s up with you and storms, anyway?”

Twilight frowned. “Rainbow, I don’t think we should be bringing that up…”

“No, it’s alright. I figured someone would get curious enough to ask.” Tank held his towel tightly around himself. “I hope you’re up for a long story though, because it’s just about the longest one I’ve got.”

Twilight’s smile returned. “If it’s a story you’re willing to tell, we would be happy to hear it.”

Tank nodded and took a slow breath. “You can’t see it now, but… when I’m human, I’ve got this big, jagged scar running down my face right here,” he explained, pointing a hoof at his cheek. “It’s pretty different from the battle scars people in my line of work tend to get, so I end up having to dodge a lot of questions about it… especially because I got it from doing something really dumb.”

“A scar…?” Twilight whispered, glancing at the bookshelves behind her.

Applejack tilted her head. “Something on your mind?”

Twilight hesitated for a moment before shaking her head in response. “I was just wondering about something, but it’s not important right now.” She turned back to Tank. “So… how did you get this scar, then?”

Tank idly rubbed the cheek it once occupied. “Well, that’s the long part. See, I have a… a friend back home. His name is Riley, and he’s been… very sick for a long time now. When I was little, I heard an old legend about something that I thought might help, and that’s when I started training. I thought if I could just get my hands on it, he’d finally be okay.”

Spike scratched his head. “What was it?”

Tank hesitated, his gaze sinking to the floor once again. “A… sword. The legend said it was a magical golden sword that could grant a wish to anyone strong enough to wield it. You know, because that’s not patently ridiculous or anything.” He rolled his eyes as he said this. “But I was willing to believe it if it meant there was a chance Riley could get better. One night a few years ago, I snuck out of bed and ran off to the old temple outside of town where it was supposed to be hidden… and, well. The short version is, I found it. Or something that fit the description at least.”

“Awesome!” Rainbow Dash grinned.

“I mean, I guess so.” Tank shrugged. “The problem came when I went to leave the temple, only to find a thunderstorm had rolled in while I wasn’t looking. We don’t have weather control back home the way you do here, and I couldn’t just wait it out or I’d get caught; I had no choice but to book it through the storm… across a wide open field… carrying a heavy sword made of gold, and hope for the best.” He shook his head. “As I’m sure you can imagine, that’s not exactly what I got.”

Twilight gasped, covering her mouth with her forehooves. “Oh no… you don’t mean…?”

Rainbow Dash’s grin faded. “What? What does he mean?”

Twilight lowered one hoof, leaving the other planted firmly on her muzzle. “Gold is an excellent conductor of electricity. Running across an open field with no shelter in the middle of a thunderstorm, carrying a golden sword…” She paused for a breath before continuing. “It would’ve made him a living lightning rod.”

Tank nodded slowly. “All I remember is a blinding flash, followed by the most excruciating pain I’ve ever felt in my entire life.” He shuddered as the memories resurfaced. “It hurt so much I could barely breathe, let alone move. I have no idea how long I was stuck out there before my family realized I was missing and went looking for me. I must have passed out at some point, because the next thing I knew, I was waking up in a hospital bed.”

The four exchanged nervous glances before turning back to Tank.

“They said I had about a ten percent chance of surviving that bolt,” Tank explained. “I’m lucky to be alive.”

Rainbow bit her lip. “So… what about the sword? Did it work?”

“Take a wild guess.” Tank glared at the damp towel in his hooves for a moment before wadding it up and pitching it at a nearby wall. “There’s no such thing as wish-granting swords. It was never anything more than a useless fairy tale, and I should’ve known that from the beginning.” He heaved a frustrated sigh. “I almost got myself _killed_ , and it was all for _nothing_.”

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Spike sat quietly, at a loss for words as Tank finished his story.

“It wasn’t for nothing.” Twilight, however, slowly stood up.

Tank stared incredulously at Twilight as though she’d just spoken a foreign language. “If you’re gonna say I got a sword out of the deal…”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant.” Twilight turned to her diminutive assistant. “Spike, where are the necklaces the Princess gave us?”

“Uh… over there!” Spike pointed a claw at a jewelry box sitting on a bookshelf by the stairs.

Twilight quickly retrieved the box, opening it to reveal three empty necklaces, and removed one with a shield-shaped gem setting.

Applejack quirked an eyebrow. “Are those what I think they are?”

Twilight nodded. “If I’m right, they each represent one of the three lost Elements.” With that, she rushed over to Tank and placed the necklace over his collarbone.

“Lost Elements…?” Rainbow echoed.

Spike flailed his arms. “We’ll explain later! I think she’s onto something.”

Tank spent a moment staring down at his necklace before looking back up at Twilight.

Twilight beamed with pride at Tank. “As friends, we all do our best to look after one another in times of need… but today, you went above and beyond that. I’ve seen you put yourself in harm’s way for others before - not least of all against Nightmare Moon - but it takes a special kind of strength to stand up to your greatest fear for the sake of somepony else.” At this, she cleared her throat.

“Tank Buster, you represent the Element of Courage!”

The empty setting in Tank’s necklace immediately took on a blinding glow, prompting everyone to shield their eyes for a moment. As it faded, they all soon found themselves gazing at a brilliant green gemstone in its place, sparkling softly in the evening light.

“ _Mes étoiles_ …” Tank whispered, staring at his brand new Element of Harmony. A smile slowly rose on his face as he turned back toward Twilight once again. “Twilight, look! It worked!”

Twilight began hopping up and down excitedly in an almost Pinkie Pie-esque manner. “Yes! It worked, it worked! Woohoo!”

“Well, I’ll be.” Applejack adjusted her hat with a proud smirk. “Congratulations, Tank. You earned it.”

“I’ll say!” Rainbow agreed. “The way you were cowering under all those pillows before, I didn’t think you had it in you.”

Tank’s eyes narrowed. “Ugh, don’t remind me.” In spite of this, his expression quickly softened. “But I guess that was kinda the point though, wasn’t it?”

Twilight nodded. “We’ve seen you face more dangerous things than a thunderstorm before. Like when you helped us round up that ursa minor, or face down the dragon up on the mountain… but you weren’t as afraid of those, were you?”

“Not really, no.” Tank shrugged. “I’m used to fighting things that are bigger and stronger than me; it’s kind of an occupational hazard… but I’ll be old and gray before I forget that night coming back from the temple.” He gave another nervous shudder as though to emphasize the point.

Twilight put a reassuring foreleg over Tank’s shoulder. “It’s easy to do dangerous things if you’re not afraid. True courage is about standing up to your fears, no matter how hard it may be, if it means doing what’s right.”

“Courage, huh…” Tank’s gaze returned to the Element on his necklace, his smile resurfacing. “I dunno what sort of mysterious extradimensional force decided I earned this, but it’s flattering either way. Shame I’ll have to hand it over though; didn’t you say the Princess wanted to hang onto these?”

Twilight retracted her foreleg. “I did, and she does, but she’ll probably want to come to Ponyville herself to collect it… which means somepony’s going to have to look after it until then.” At this, she gave Tank a wink and a cheeky smirk. “I can’t think of anypony better to keep it safe. Besides, you’ll want to show it off to Scarlet and Waterwing, won’t you?”

Tank’s soft smile broadened into an eager grin.

Applejack gently nudged the still-sleeping Apple Bloom onto her back. “Well, this has been plenty exciting, but I think we’d better get along now that the rain’s stopped. Poor Big Mac and Granny Smith must be worried sick by now.” She paused for a moment and approached Tank. “I know I said it before, but I just can’t thank you enough for saving my little sister.”

Tank’s cheeks flushed a little. “It’s no problem, Applejack. I’m just glad Apple Bloom is alright… I’ll have a word with the mayor tomorrow to see what we can do about those sinkholes so this doesn’t happen again.”

Applejack beamed a moment longer before slowly marching her way out the door.

“Spike, get my quill,” Twilight instructed. “We’ve got a report to write for the Princess about everything that happened today.”

“Oh man, would you look at the time!” Rainbow Dash yawned loudly. “I’ve got a nap I gotta catch up on. I’ll see you guys later!” She was already out the door before anyone could react.

Twilight, Tank, and Spike exchanged glances before sharing a collective giggle.

“Alright, let’s get started.” Twilight cleared her throat once again as Spike held quill and scroll at the ready. “Dear Princess Celestia…”


	21. Short: "Sign"

A familiar jingle came from the bell above the door to Carousel Boutique as a pair of ponies wandered their way inside.

“…should be questioning the concept of a _carousel_ under the circumstances, you know? It just seems weird to me, but I can’t quite put my finger on why, exactly…” Tank seemed deep in thought for a moment as he entered, but snapped to attention upon spotting Rarity waiting for them. “Uh, hey Rarity. You said you wanted to see us?”

Waterwing joined in the greeting, offering a cheery smile and wave.

“Ah, there you are! You’re just in time; I have a little something I thought might interest you.” Rarity gently set down her needle and thread and trotted over to a nearby table littered with miscellaneous supplies.

Tank quirked an eyebrow. “Wait. You don’t mean you already finished our outfits for the Gala, do you? I knew you were good, but geez.”

Rarity covered her mouth with a hoof and giggled softly. “Not quite…” She pored over the items on the table for a few seconds, finally locating a book and lifting it with her magic. “Actually, this mostly concerns you, Waterwing.”

Waterwing blinked, pointing a hoof at herself as she glanced between Tank and Rarity.

“Yes, you, dear!” Rarity floated the book in front of her to have another look at it. “See, I remembered an old marefriend of mine whose brother was hard of hearing… and as luck would have it, he too was a pegasus! I went and reconnected with her the other day so I could ask her about it, and when I happened to mention your, ah… communication troubles, this is what she gave me.” With that, she offered it to the two ponies before her, causing them to stare at it for several seconds.

Tank quirked an eyebrow. “What have we got here…? ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Wingsign’?”

Waterwing’s eyes went wide as she snatched the book out of the air and immediately began flipping through it.

Rarity smiled pleasantly at Waterwing hovering overhead, her snout already buried in the book, and turned to Tank. “I presume you had some other means of communicating with her before you arrived?”

Tank shrugged. “Well, yeah. We all knew sign language so we could talk to her properly, but since it requires hands that we don’t happen to have at the moment, I’m sure you can imagine we’ve had to improvise pretty heavily for the past few weeks.” He paused a moment to ponder the concept. “So you’re saying she could do it with her wings?”

Rarity nodded. “Why, certainly! Now, I was thinking - we could use this book to practice it with her for a little while, just the three of us, until we think we’ve learned enough to start teaching it to the others. All the better if you used similar methods before, since it’ll be less about the concept and more just learning the new syntax.”

“I’m liking this plan better and better every minute.” Tank brought a hoof to his chin and gave it a thoughtful rub before glancing upward at his companion. “But I guess it’s not really up to me though. What do you think?”

Still hovering above, Waterwing slowly closed the book in her hooves and gave it an excited hug, beaming down at Rarity as she nodded her agreement.

“Splendid!” With that, Rarity cleared some space at the edge of the table, allowing Waterwing to set the book there and offer all three of them room to see it. “Right then. I was thinking we could start with your name; I just know I saw 'water’ in here somewhere…”


	22. Short: "Cutie"

“Now don’t be shy, you two. Dig in and tell me what you think!”

The smell of baking filled the air in the Apple family kitchen as Applejack nudged two plates across the table toward the two curious ponies before her.

Scarlet reached out with her magic, lifting the small pastry from her plate and taking a careful bite. Its flaky crust crumbled perfectly in her mouth as she chewed, nicely contrasting the crisp texture of the warm apple and the gooeyness of the cinnamon filling.

“You have quite outdone yourself, I think.” Scarlet beamed at Applejack before taking a second bite. “I could scarcely imagine a finer treat.”

“Well shucks, I’m just glad you like it.” Applejack grinned and turned to Waterwing. “How about you there? Think I got it right?”

Waterwing, having already devoured her entire pastry, busily licked at the crumbs and globs of cinnamon filling at the corners of her mouth.

Applejack chuckled. “I suppose that’s a ‘yes.’”

Finally resigning herself to cleaning up with a napkin, Waterwing nodded eagerly.

Scarlet tilted her head. “Not that I mean to complain by any stretch, but was there a reason why you needed our assistance in particular to test your new pastry?”

Applejack shrugged. “Not especially. Just that I’ve been working on this recipe for a week now, and I think Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh were getting a little tired of pastries.”

Scarlet looked affronted. “Perish the thought…”

“Huh?” Applejack suddenly found herself watching Waterwing stare at her own flank, poking at her cutie mark with her hoof. “Something wrong there, sugarcube?”

Lightly startled, Waterwing straightened up in her seat and looked over at Scarlet imploringly.

A thought struck Scarlet as she met her companion’s gaze. “Ah, yes… I nearly forgot. Applejack, would you mind if we asked you about something?”

Applejack smirked. “Has it got to do with your cutie marks?”

Scarlet stifled an amused grin. “However did you guess?”

“Just lucky, I suppose.” Applejack straightened her hat. “Though I’ll admit I’m probably not the best to ask about that sort of thing. Maybe give Twilight a poke? Might be more her speed.”

“Well, you see…” Scarlet glanced at Waterwing, who wore an uncomfortable grimace on her face. “We have in fact already spoken to her about it, but…”

Applejack scratched her head. “Didn’t go so well, I take it?”

Scarlet took a deep breath. “Her lecture on the nature of cutie marks was so excessively lengthy and detailed that by the time she had finished I honestly felt as though I understood less than I did before she started.”

Applejack gave a hearty chuckle. “I haven’t known her that long, but that sure sounds like Twilight, alright.”

Scarlet raised a hoof to her chin in thought. “Would you tell us how it was that you earned your mark? Perhaps we could extrapolate something from that.”

“I’d be happy to.” Applejack glanced down at her flank as she spoke. “I got my mark when I finally realized the place I was meant to be is here at Sweet Apple Acres with my family. I like to think of it as my way of keeping them close - there’s three apples, see? One for Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith.”

Waterwing gave a silent gasp and turned toward Scarlet, who wore a similar look of comprehension.

“I thought as much.” Scarlet paused a moment. “So it was the circumstances of its acquisition that contextualized its intended meaning, then.”

“Exactly!” Applejack’s subsequent grin was short-lived as a thought struck her. “Oh, wait… but that won’t help any, will it? Y'all said you don’t know where yours came from.”

Scarlet shook her head slowly. “They were already there when we first awoke, as mystifying as they are now.”

Applejack bit her lip. “Aw, shoot. I’m real sorry.”

“No need to worry.” Scarlet offered a reassuring smile. “I suppose our answer will simply have to wait for another time.”

Applejack’s own smile returned. “Hey, I got an idea. You two care to help me make a batch of those pastries? I reckon we can spare a few if you’re still hungry.”

Waterwing’s eyes widened as she licked her lips.

Applejack gave yet another chuckle. “Sounds like another 'yes’ to me. Let’s get started!”


	23. Short: "Battle"

On the grassy outskirts of Ponyville, a battle raged.

Scarlet Starbeam paused for a moment to regain her breath. She caught the green blur that was Tank Buster barreling toward her in the corner of her eye and bolted out of the way with inches to spare... but hardly a second later, he had already reversed direction entirely; before she could recover her footing, his head collided with her shoulder and sent her sprawling.

A quick roll put her back on all four hooves, her horn already lit up in a fiery orange. Her mouth widened into an angry snarl as a stream of fire poured forth from it.

Tank could feel waves of heat as the flames rolled through the spot where he'd been standing just a second ago; to his relief, they had succeeded only in singeing his tail. He took the opportunity to put some distance between them before turning to face Scarlet once again, crouching low for just a moment before taking off like a bullet directly toward her.

A deep brown glow signaled Scarlet's next spell as stone spires began briefly jutting out of the ground in front of Tank as he charged. Rather than slow his advance, however, he began leaping between them, their rocky sides allowing him to gain height in spite of their steepness. He caught up in seconds, now threatening to slam down on her with his forehooves from above.

Another quick bolt put her just barely out of the way as he came down. Anticipating his quick turnaround as before, her horn lit up in a sinister purple as she lashed out with her magic, not a moment too soon; a set of dark, shadowy claws struck Tank's flank and threw him off balance, eliciting a grunt of pain.

Slowed but undeterred, Tank crouched once again, getting ready to -

"Waiiit!"

Both combatants froze in their tracks.

"I mean..." Fluttershy stood before them, one hoof absent-mindedly fiddling with the end of her mane as she pondered her next choice of words. "Um. Friends shouldn't be fighting like that, so... whatever's wrong, you can tell me and... maybe I can help you work things out...?" She punctuated this sentence with a very small hopeful smile.

Scarlet and Tank spent several seconds staring at Fluttershy before turning back toward one another... and bursting into laughter.

Fluttershy's eyes went wide. "W-What...?"

Scarlet took a deep breath to calm herself. "A thousand pardons if we frightened you, Fluttershy, but I promise nothing is wrong."

"It's just a training exercise," Tank explained, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "We're sparring!"

"Sparring...?" Fluttershy echoed with a gentle tilt to her head.

Scarlet nodded. "A practice in which we normally engage much more frequently... but as I presume you can imagine, our routine was rather heavily disrupted when we arrived here. We have a fair bit of catching up to do, as it were."

Tank took a deep breath of his own. "Not to mention the fight with Nightmare Moon. We only got out of that alive 'cause you guys showed up when you did. I don't want to rely on that kind of luck if something serious happens again, but I'm still not quite used to fighting in this body yet..."

"But... but you're bleeding...!" Fluttershy protested, pointing a hoof at a set of long scratches on Tank's flank.

"Oh... yeah, that's normal. Got me pretty good with that claw move," Tank admitted, glancing with a smirk at Scarlet to find her beaming a satisfied smile. "Normally we have Waterwing around to patch us up, but I think she's been busy studying all day."

Fluttershy blinked. "So... you're not mad at each other?"

Scarlet raised her hoof to her chest. "On my honor as a warrior, we are not."

Fluttershy paused for a moment to process this. "Then... come with me to my cottage. Um, if that's okay with you."

Tank quirked an eyebrow. "Uh...?"

Fluttershy resumed fiddling with her mane. "Well, um... I want to apologize for interrupting your sparring, so I thought maybe I could make you some tea... and I might not be as good as Waterwing, but I do have a first-aid kit..."

Scarlet stepped forward and put a gentle hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. "Your concern for us is always appreciated, and you need never apologize for it. That said, I think tea would be lovely."

Tank wagged his lightly singed tail as he nodded his agreement. "That sounds great, actually. Thanks, Fluttershy."

Visibly relieved, Fluttershy's tender smile brightened. "Oh, good. Come with me then, it's just over the hill..."


	24. Episode 3-1

Twilight Sparkle stared at the clock in the hospital waiting room with a sigh as she marched back and forth impatiently.

“C'mon, Twilight,” groaned her scaly purple assistant from a nearby chair. “I’m sure she’ll be done any minute now, so will you relax already? You’re pacing so much, you’re gonna wear out the carpet.”

“But she was supposed to be done half an hour ago!” Twilight gave Spike a worried glance before turning back toward the clock. “This assignment is really important, and we need all the time we can get to prepare…”

“It wasn’t actually an assignment though,” Spike pointed out. “More of a request, if you ask me…”

Twilight shook her head. “Princess Celestia doesn’t make requests, especially not of her students. Her words were gentle, as they always are, but I know this task is much more important than that.”

Arguing the point further wasn’t going to be much use, so Spike simply shrugged.

“I just wish I knew what’s wrong,” Twilight continued. “Maybe she forgot and left early? Or maybe they suddenly extended her shift for the day… or maybe - ”

“Or maybe she’s standing right behind you,” Spike interjected.

Waterwing smiled cheerily. It stung just a bit when the realization had struck her that a large portion of her medical expertise was now irrelevant, given that it applied to human patients and not ponies (despite how strangely human-like they seemed to be in many respects). Still, to her credit, she’d at least managed to impress the staff at the Ponyville hospital enough to land a job there, even if it was merely as an otherwise lowly patient escort; she wasn’t entirely sure if she was willing to aim any higher for the time being if it meant having to retake classes she’d technically already passed.

“Waterwing, there you are!” Twilight gave a quiet sigh of relief. “I was starting to worry a little. What kept you?”

Wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead, Waterwing began flapping her wings in a very particular pattern.

<Busy busy! Much work. Done now!>

Twilight smiled as she recognized the signs Waterwing was using. Collectively, they had made good progress learning how to communicate with her properly, though there was still a lot to learn. Twilight somewhat lamented her inability to practice the wing forms herself, knowing she’d be able to learn them much faster that way… but since the alternative was a weekly group study session with all her friends, this didn’t trouble her much.

“Wait, busy?” The thought suddenly struck Twilight as odd, noting as she looked around that the waiting room was all but deserted. The matter didn’t seem worth questioning, though; there was much to do. “Well, anyway. The train with our guest on it should be arriving in just a few minutes, so if you want to freshen up a bit before she gets here, you’ll have to be quick about it.” With that, she motioned for Spike to hop on her back and made for the front door.

Waterwing followed along, stopping briefly to flash a confident smile and sign again. <Fast. Okay!> She paused briefly to scratch her head. <But what pony is it?>

Twilight shook her head as they stepped out into the late afternoon sun. “Princess Celestia never did tell me who we’re supposed to be meeting… just that she was ‘somepony who would appreciate a nice evening in a quiet town,’ if I remember her wording correctly. We should head for the train station if we want to - huh?”

As they reached the main road, Waterwing came to a halt and began staring intently at a small nearby lake.

Spike scratched his head. “Um… Is something wrong?”

Waterwing gave the pair a glance and briefly held up a hoof. Before either of them could inquire further, she took off into the air and dove straight into the lake. Spike gripped Twilight firmly to keep his balance as she dashed forward, skidding to a stop and staring incredulously at the spot where her friend had disappeared. Mere seconds later, Waterwing marched calmly out of the water, shook herself dry, and turned to grin once again at Twilight.

<Fast!>

After spending a moment processing what he’d just witnessed, Spike giggled to himself.

“Well, I… suppose that’ll have to do, then.” Twilight wiped a stray drop of water from her nose. “The train should be in by the time we get there, so let’s go.”

After a nod from Waterwing and an uneventful few minutes’ walk, the trio ascended the steps onto the station platform just as a dazzling train decked out in gold and purple came to a stop, emitting a deafening burst of steam as it did so.

Spike hopped down from Twilight’s back and tilted his head at the lustrous locomotive. “Wait, isn’t that Stellar Limited? I thought only the highest-ranking royal officials were allowed onboard.”

Twilight turned back toward Spike and nodded. “I’m not surprised; the Princess wouldn’t have asked this of us herself unless it was somepony really important, like one of her personal advisors.”

Waterwing’s eyes went wide as she stared incredulously at something behind Twilight. <Or moon pony.>

“Moon pony…?” Twilight echoed, not entirely sure she’d read that correctly.

Waterwing nodded fervently. <Moon pony!>

Twilight scratched her head. “Waterwing, I don’t… wait.” Lowering her hoof, she spun around.

A tall mare in midnight blue stepped out of the passenger car. Her mane and tail glittered like the night sky and drifted gently, independent of the breeze, and her chestplate and flank each bore the emblem of the crescent moon.

Twilight’s jaw nearly hit the floor. “P-Princess Luna…?!”


	25. Episode 3-2

The princess of the night stepped out onto the station platform and glanced around nonchalantly.

“Nope.” Spike shook his head and took a step back. “Sorry, Twilight, but I think I’m gonna head back to the library and get some chores done. This is officially above my pay grade.” With that, he turned on his heel and began jogging back toward town.

“Spike, get back here!” Twilight hissed, but this elicited little more than a quick wave from the little dragon. Sighing, she turned back toward the train to find that Princess Luna had spotted them and begun her approach; evidently, Princess Celestia had elected to inform precisely one of the parties involved who she’d be meeting.

“TWILIGHT SPARKLE.”

Princess Luna’s voice boomed, echoing across the platform and causing all the unprepared ponies standing nearby to jump in surprise.

Waterwing quirked an eyebrow, glancing back and forth between Twilight and the newcomer. Wasn’t this the same pony who threatened to cover the land in eternal night and attacked her friends? She even poisoned Tank! Much as it suddenly felt like a less than terrific plan, though, Waterwing realized she’d already agreed to help; she couldn’t just bail and let Twilight down like that, tempting though the idea was.

“Welcome to Ponyville, Princess Luna! I’m very sorry about the lukewarm reception.” Twilight took a quick bow. “Princess Celestia never actually told us who we were meeting, so I wasn’t as prepared as I could have been for your visit.”

“IT IS OF NO CONSEQUENCE,” came Luna’s booming voice once more. Several passersby dashed for cover. “BUT WE WERE NOT INFORMED ABOUT A COMPANION. WE WOULD HAVE YOUR NAME, FRIEND OF TWILIGHT SPARKLE.”

Waterwing winced, rubbing her head gently in an attempt to diminish the ringing in her ears. <Too loud…!>

“This is Waterwing,” Twilight explained. “She agreed to help me show you around town.”

Waterwing gave Luna as neutral a face as she could manage. <Hello.>

In the silence following Waterwing’s greeting, Twilight grinned nervously. “…That was ‘hello.’”

“CHARMED.” Luna looked unimpressed.

The awkward silence continued a moment longer before Twilight spoke up once again. “Well then! Why don’t we get going? I made us a reservation for dinner at the Prancing Pony.”

As the trio made their way through town, Waterwing gave Twilight as meaningful a look as she could manage.

Twilight blinked. “What’s wrong?”

Waterwing glanced backward briefly at Princess Luna. <This same pony who hurt friends…?>

“That’s… a complicated question.” Several paces separated them from Luna, but Twilight kept her voice low all the same. “Her transformation into Nightmare Moon was a willing one, but the precise effects of such dark magic on a pony’s psyche aren’t well documented. I know Princess Celestia trusts that she’s not dangerous anymore, though, or she wouldn’t have asked us to look after her for the evening. Besides… I kind of feel bad for her.”

Waterwing quirked a particularly incredulous eyebrow at Twilight.

“Princess Celestia only meant to use the Elements of Harmony to dispel Nightmare Moon’s dark magic, but as I found out firsthoof, they’re very difficult for one pony to control properly on her own, even if that pony is an alicorn… and she ended up banishing her own sister to the moon.” Twilight sighed. “For a thousand years, the only thing Princess Luna had to keep her company was the corruption poisoning her heart. I won’t excuse what she did, but I’m not surprised she lashed out like that as soon as she returned.”

A thousand years… Waterwing felt a pang of guilt in her heart as she realized she’d forgotten that particular detail of the story; she could barely imagine living for so long in the first place, never mind spending such a stretch completely alone.

“Waterwing…”

The very idea made her shiver fearfully. She wasn’t exactly huge on psychology, but she at least knew that if ponies were anything like humans (and from what she’d seen thus far, it was nearly undeniable), such prolongued solitude would inflict heavy, and likely irreparable, psychological damage to Luna.

“Waterwing?”

On second thought… while she did seem rather gruff overall for Waterwing’s taste, she had to admit that under the circumstances, Luna appeared to be doing quite well. Perhaps this was the influence of the blast she took from the Elements? It wasn’t very clear what exactly that beam had done to her, so it might be possible…

“Waterwing, look out for - ”

**SMACK**

Waterwing staggered backward, rubbing her now slightly smushed muzzle. A wooden sign hanging above her, swaying lightly in the breeze, bore the emblem of a dancing pony. Evidently, she’d gotten so distracted by her thoughts that she failed to notice having arrived at her destination, and promptly walked face-first into the front door.

Twilight blinked. “Are you okay?”

With a sheepish grin, Waterwing nodded. <Mistake…!>

Raising her hoof, Twilight gave the door a firm knock and took a step back.

After a brief pause, the upper half of the door swung open, revealing the head and shoulders of a smartly-dressed stallion with a dainty moustache. “Welcome to ze Prancing Pony. Do you have, how you say, ze reservation?”

Twilight beamed. “Yes! It should be under 'Sparkle,’ I think?”

The stallion reached for a nearby notebook and began glancing back and forth between it and the party assembled before him. “Ah, zen let me - hmm?” He paused, as though unsure of what he’d just seen, and gave them a closer look. Pleasantly smiling lavender unicorn, fair enough. Plain-looking blue pegasus, nothing wrong there. Suspiciously familiar jet black alicorn twice his height giving him a stern look that sent a chill down his spine…

Welp.

The stallion immediately began sweating profusely. “Very sorry, closing early, come back tomorrow for full refund!”

“Wait, wh - ” Before Twilight could protest, the door slammed closed in front of her. She tried knocking again, but this yielded no response. “But I haven’t paid anything yet…”

“…I told her this would happen.”

Given its lack of excessive volume, it took Waterwing several seconds to realize that this line had come from Luna. All of a sudden, the princess seemed like a totally different pony, now sitting back and staring dejectedly at the dirt.

“The wounds have not yet healed,” Luna explained. “These ponies are no less fearful of me now than they were the morning of the Celebration. I warned my sister this would be the case, but she was adamant and insisted I pay a visit regardless. I wish I could say the vindication was satisfying.”

Waterwing’s ears drooped as she glanced at Twilight. <What do…?>

Twilight bit her lip; this was going downhill much more quickly than she had anticipated. “I-It’s alright, Princess! We’ll just find another restaurant. Do… you like hayburgers?”

Luna held up a hoof. “You need not trouble yourself, Twilight Sparkle. I was not very hungry either way.”

“But…!” Twilight began to protest, but soon found herself unable to reply as she realized she hadn’t planned for this particular contingency, and instead turned to her companion. “If the ponies of Ponyville are too afraid to serve Princess Luna, then all my plans are completely blown out of the water… What do we do? We can’t send her back to Canterlot like this.”

Waterwing’s face lit up as the answer came to her. With a quick hop, she hovered in front of Luna… and, smiling softly, spread her forelegs wide.

To her dismay, Luna’s only reaction was to stare at her in confusion.

Twilight pulled Waterwing back to the ground with a gentle tug of her magic. “Um… I know your heart’s in the right place and all, but I don’t really think it’s appropriate to offer the princess a hug.”

Waterwing’s eyes began to water. <No hug…?>

Twilight raised a hoof to her forehead and sighed. “There must be something else we can do…”

Waterwing nodded. <Idea!>

“You have another idea?” Twilight tilted her head.

<Follow!> Motioning with her hoof and grinning confidently, Waterwing’s wings kicked up dust as she took off down the road.

Twilight gave Luna an apologetic look. “Sorry about the wait, Princess, but it looks like we’ll be… uh, doing something… somewhere else!”

Luna hesitated for a moment, unsure about whether or not it was worth the bother. “…Very well. Lead the way then.”


	26. Episode 3-3

Rarity’s ears perked up as they detected the familiar jingle of her door bell.

“Hello, and welcome - oh my goodness!”

She had hardly gotten halfway through her greeting when a frantic-looking Waterwing skidded to a stop in front of her, signing as rapidly as Rarity had ever seen. <Moon, sad, fear, help!>

Rarity winced. “Waterwing, sweetheart, please slow down a little! Whatever is the matter?”

Waterwing took a deep breath before continuing. <Moon pony come visit, but other ponies afraid! Moon pony sad. Can help?>

Rarity mulled over this information for a moment. “Well, I don’t see why not! But who is this ‘moon pony’ of yours, exactly?”

Another jingle rang out, and two more ponies entered.

“Ah, Twilight! Lovely to see you, dear.” Rarity gave her friend a chipper smile, which she then turned to the pony who had entered with her. “And to you as well, miss - ?!” Her greeting cut off instantly as she recognized the tall, dark alicorn, instead shifting rapidly into an alarmed screech.

“NIGHTMARE MOON?!”

Without missing a beat, Rarity took off for a corner of the room, from which she began dragging a small but ornate couch. Upon reaching her point of origin, she promptly raised a hoof to her forehead, gave a soft “ohhh~”, and collapsed upon it.

Luna drew a slow breath and used it to sigh noisily.

“Er… Just a moment, please, Princess…” Twilight grinned apologetically and rushed over to her prone friend. “Rarity, stop that! We defeated Nightmare Moon, remember? That’s Princess Luna!”

“…Oh. Yes, well.” Now wearing her own nervous grin, Rarity cleared her throat and hastily shoved the couch aside. “So from what I’ve gathered, Princess Luna is here for a leisurely visit, but the townsfolk are too fearful and intimidated to abide, so you need help showing her a nice time in their stead. Have I got that right?”

Waterwing wiped away a bead of nervous sweat and nodded.

“Well, you’ve come to the right place!” Theatrics now replaced with her usual confidence, Rarity trotted a ways back into the shop and gestured at a large round platform flanked by several mirrors. “Princess, welcome to Carousel Boutique! If you would please step up here, we can get started right away.”

Luna took an apprehensive step forward. “Get started on… what, exactly?”

Beaming, Rarity leaned forward as she replied. “Why, finding you the perfect dress, of course!”

“The… perfect dress?” Luna’s ears perked up as she echoed the phrase. Despite this, she spent a moment in hesitation, glancing about the boutique.

“Rarity is Ponyville’s premier tailor and fashion designer,” Twilight explained. “We thought maybe a chance to wear something a little different might be just what you need. Right, Waterwing?”

Waterwing grinned as she mimicked Rarity’s gesturing. <Pretty dresses for pretty pony!>

Slowly, Luna stepped up onto the platform. Without missing a beat, Rarity dashed toward a nearby clothing rack and magically plucked several dresses hanging from it, returning quickly to the platform and holding them up before the Princess to get a general idea of how they might look on her.

The first was predominantly green and blue, with a flowery trim. “Hmm… no no no, that won’t do at all,” Rarity quickly decided as she tossed it aside.

The second was an eye-catching orange with yellow highlights that made it look almost like a flickering flame in the light. “Oh heavens, it clashes terribly with your mane…”

A thought struck Waterwing, and she began perusing the dress rack herself for a moment before carefully pulling an item that caught her eye. It was an enormous lacy thing, complete with a hood and a giant bow on the front to tie the whole ensemble together, looking almost like it had been fashioned out of a preposterously large doily. With an impish grin, she fluttered her way over to the princess and held it up for royal appraisal.

“Euh…” Luna recoiled from the dress as though she were being offered spoiled food.

It was all Rarity could do not to burst out laughing, muffling her muzzle with a foreleg as she snatched the dress from her friend’s hooves and flung it out of sight. In mock indignation, Waterwing stuck her tongue out at Rarity, but this soon gave way to a fit of silent giggles.

“Very well then. If none of these will do, I shall simply have to start from scratch!” In an instant, Rarity had summoned her sketchpad and begun furiously scribbling upon it. “Let’s see… we’ll start with a midnight blue to match your mane… something translucent should be good, so it still shows off your cutie mark… oh, brilliant! I can use white sapphires for that…” All eyes in the room were locked onto her as she paced back and forth, muttering incomplete thoughts to herself as she sketched.

Finally, after a minute or so, she trotted up to Luna and presented her concept. “There you are, then. This ought to turn those fearful screams into gasps of awe!”

If Luna was interpreting the sketch correctly, it seemed as though Rarity’s intention was to distill the evening sky itself into the form of a light, flowy dress, complete with gemstones that glittered like twinkling stars. The princess herself nearly gasped as she imagined it - a crowd of ponies all gathered around her, unable to take their eyes off her figure in her gorgeous new dress. Some would praise her gentle beauty, others would be inspired to thank her for her hard work looking after them all at night… and the rest would simply gaze upon her and smile, offering her the adoration she’d been searching for all those years ago…

“…”

Luna shook her head vigorously to dispel the fantasy brewing within, clearing her throat loudly before speaking. “This design is… adequate. I will be sure to send proper compensation from the royal treasury.”

Rarity giggled. “Oh don’t be silly, Princess! The honor of seeing you wear one of my creations is all the payment I need.”

“I… see.” Though she still had yet to offer anything resembling a smile, Luna’s expression seemed to brighten at Rarity’s response. “In that case, if I may… when might it be ready?”

Rarity rubbed her chin with a forehoof. “Well, I used up the last of my colorless gems on an order I finished yesterday, so I’ll have to go hunting for more over the weekend… If I move my other projects around, I could have it done sometime early next week!”

Luna’s ears folded back as her gaze fell to the floor. “Oh…”

Rarity bit her lip. “I’m very sorry if I got your hopes up, Princess, but I’m afraid even I couldn’t finish a dress like this in an evening, even if I did have all the materials on hoof.” She smiled meekly. “Your eagerness is very flattering though! I’ll have it delivered to the castle straight away as soon as it’s done.”

“…Thank you.” Not sure what else to say, Luna simply glanced about the room for a moment, seemingly restless. “Er, where might I…?”

“Down the hall there, first door,” Rarity explained.

Luna nodded as she retreated into the back of the boutique, prompting Rarity to wave Twilight and Waterwing over. “Has she been like this the whole time?”

“It started when our reservation for dinner cancelled on us.” Twilight rubbed her chin in thought. “If I had to guess, there must be more to what’s bothering her than just what ponies think of her, but I can’t quite put my hoof on what it might be.”

Waterwing glanced between the two unicorns before her, looking crestfallen. <Dress pony try, but moon pony still sad…>

Twilight gently brushed Waterwing’s mane with her hoof. “It’s alright. It was a good idea, really! We just have to try again, that’s all.”

Rarity suddenly perked up. “Oh, I have a marvelous idea! She might be a bit bothered by our unannounced arrival, but if anypony can reduce the tension of this visit a little, it’s her.”

Waterwing’s tail flicked back and forth as she tilted her head.

Rarity opened her mouth to respond, but was preempted by the distant sound of a door opening. “I’ll explain on the way. Look alive!”

Luna returned to find the three of them waiting patiently for her.

Rarity smiled. “Are you ready for the next item on this evening’s itinerary, princess?”

Luna blinked. “As much as I could expect to be, I suppose.”

“Very well then!”

With a nod and a flourish from Rarity, the four of them made for the front door of the boutique.


	27. Episode 3-4

As the sun began to sink slowly beyond the horizon, four ponies followed the path leading to a small cottage on the outskirts of the forest.

"Oh, I hope she isn't too bothered," Twilight whispered, glancing at Rarity. "If she reacts the same way you did, this might just backfire; I'm not sure how much longer Princess Luna's patience will hold out."

Rarity's ears folded back for a moment as she cringed in response. "Perhaps one of us should run ahead and warn her? I'm sure the poor dear would appreciate a bit of advance notice anyway."

Twilight quirked an eyebrow. "Won't it seem suspicious if we do that though...?"

Waterwing glanced back at Luna trailing a few paces behind them. Though she faced toward the setting sun, it didn't seem like she was staring intentionally at anything in particular, instead thoroughly lost in her own thoughts. <Maybe not...>

After watching Luna apprehensively for a moment, Twilight turned to her companions and nodded. "Alright. You two go ahead, then; I'll keep an eye on her."

Before long, Rarity and Waterwing found themselves on the front porch of Fluttershy's cottage, checking periodically over their shoulders to see how long they had until Twilight and Luna caught up.

"Oh, I do hope this works..." Rarity quickly rapped her hoof against the door.

Several seconds passed in silence, during which the two shared worried glances... but soon enough, the door slowly creaked open, revealing a yellow pegasus smiling at them.

"Rarity! Waterwing!" Fluttershy backed up a few steps, pulling the door open wide to allow her guests entry. "Um... please, come on in!"

Waterwing fluttered her way inside, landing beside Fluttershy just long enough to gently nuzzle her cheek.

"Ever so sorry to pop in unannounced, dear," Rarity explained, "but we were hoping to ask you for... a favor of sorts."

Fluttershy's smile broadened. "Oh, of course! I'd be happy to help. What is it?"

Rarity took a deep breath and spoke rather quickly. "Twilight accepted a visitor to town on behalf of Princess Celestia but the poor dear has been having a rough go of things and we thought perhaps your particular brand of hospitality might be just what she needs!"

"Oh gosh..." A look of concern crossed Fluttershy's face as she raised a hoof to her mouth in contemplation. "I mean, I'm still definitely here to help, especially if it's also for Princess Celestia, but..." She glanced out the window, but saw no sight of the mystery guest just yet and turned back to her friends. "Um... who is it, exactly?"

Waterwing hesitated for a moment before responding. <Moon pony.>

Fluttershy's eyes stretched so wide in instantaneous comprehension that Waterwing was impressed they didn't immediately free themselves from the confines of her head.

"N-N-Nightmare M-Moon??" Fluttershy shuffled backward in alarm, stopping only once she'd bumped into the couch a few paces behind her and emitted a startled squeak. Without missing a beat, she spun around, covered her head with her forelegs, and ducked beneath the couch for shelter.

Sighing silently, Waterwing took a seat next to the trembling Fluttershy and began brushing her side with a gentle hoof.

"Fluttershy, dear, there's nothing to worry about!" Rarity took a seat opposite Waterwing. "We defeated that nasty brute, don't you remember? Princess Luna is back to her old self again, and she has you to thank for it!"

"That... that's true," came a voice from beneath the couch. A moment later, Fluttershy made her way out from under it and sat up, glancing between Rarity and Waterwing before sighing. "Okay... I'll do it."

<Thank you thank you thank you!> Waterwing barely finished signing before wrapping her forelegs around Fluttershy's neck.

Smiling once again, Fluttershy carefully nudged at the enthusiastic Waterwing to encourage her to let go. "Why don't I put the kettle on for some tea then?"

"That sounds marvelous," Rarity agreed.

A knock came from the front door just as Fluttershy returned from the kitchen. Visibly nervous, she glanced at her friends once again, both nodding to her in response. Steeling herself, she approached the door and slowly drew it open. "H-Hello...?"

Two faces greeted her. The first was Twilight, wearing the most artificial smile Fluttershy had ever seen; the other, only vaguely familiar yet still ostensibly Princess Luna, her expression entirely inscrutable. Fluttershy's eyes flitted between the two of them and the floor, what little confidence she'd managed to summon quickly ebbing.

Waterwing flew to Fluttershy's side and waved at the pair standing on the doorstep.

"O-Oh..." Composing herself as best she could, Fluttershy pulled the door open the rest of the way to let them inside. "Please, um... come in, Princess!"

Luna soon found herself curiously examining the cottage's modest interior, her eyes shifting from the numerous bird houses hanging from the ceiling to a comfortable-looking couch flanked by end tables.

"Um, h-have a seat, if... if you want," Fluttershy stammered, gesturing toward the couch Luna had been eyeing. "The tea should, um, be ready soon."

Luna gingerly sat down as offered and glanced back up at the ceiling. "Do... you collect bird houses, then?"

Taken aback by the unanticipated question, Fluttershy's gaze fell to the floor.

Twilight gently put a foreleg over Fluttershy's shoulders. "Fluttershy is our resident animal expert. She helps care for a number of needy animals that aren't sick or injured enough to require a vet."

Fluttershy's expression brightened somewhat. "Things have been... a little quiet lately though. It's just me and Angel in the house today."

Luna blinked. "Angel?"

"Angel Bunny. He's, um... my bunny," Fluttershy clarified. "Do... you like animals, Princess?"

Luna looked pensive for a moment. "...I cannot say. Truth be told, I never had much occasion to spend time with them."

"Why don't you go find him then, Fluttershy?" Twilight suggested. "I think the Princess will like him."

"I could do that..." Fluttershy had hardly made it two steps toward her objective before stopping in her tracks and glancing back toward the kitchen. "Oh, but the tea is - "

" - already taken care of, darling!"

Rarity waved her hoof toward the kitchen as Waterwing emerged from it, carrying a large tray laden with a tea server, several dainty-looking ceramic cups, and a sugar bowl. Fluttering her way over to the couch, she held it out toward Luna, whose magic quickly filled one of the cups with tea and a small spoonful of sugar and stirred for a moment before lifting it to her lips for a sip.

"Hm...?" It was then Luna noticed that Waterwing appeared to be watching her carefully, and spent a moment staring back in reply. Was she waiting for something? "Er, thank you...?"

Whatever it was, her slightly deflated expression suggested that apparently wasn't it.

Luna glanced away for a moment, hoping for a diversion. Why was this pony paying so much attention to her all of a sudden? She was used to being waited on, but this felt... different. "Is something wrong?"

Waterwing shook her head, busying herself with gently placing the tea tray on the nearby end table. Before the princess could ponder the matter any further, however, Waterwing's smile returned as she waved over a pleased-looking Fluttershy, a white rabbit perched on her back. Waterwing immediately scooped up Angel in her forelegs and gave him a friendly nuzzle, prompting the bunny to squirm uselessly in an attempt to free himself from her overly enthusiastic grip.

"Say hello to the Princess, Angel," Fluttershy suggested.

This apparently got the little bunny's attention, as he ceased squirming to look up at Luna. Had he understood what Fluttershy's words meant? She wasn't sure whether or not asking for clarification would be impolite. Before she could decide, however, she realized Waterwing was now holding Angel out toward her.

Fluttershy's gaze shifted rapidly between the bunny and the floor. "Um, would you... like to hold him, Princess...?"

Would she? It was a simple question, but Luna found herself without an immediate answer. In obvious encouragement, Waterwing inched forward, the proffered bunny now nearly in Luna's lap already. Slowly, she magically set down her tea cup before reaching forward with her forelegs and taking hold of Angel, who began sniffing at her curiously.

It was only as she looked up to see Waterwing with that expectant look on her face once again that it finally dawned on Luna: the quiet at the edge of town, the warm tea, the soft bunny now cradled in her lap, and the gaggle of ponies who had been caring for her all evening...

She liked it. In spite of the awkwardness - both hers and theirs - she was comfortable. In fact, she hadn't been this comfortable in so long that she'd all but forgotten what it even felt like. It was delightful.

And she couldn't take it anymore.

"...I must go. Now," Luna whispered, magically lifting Angel and dropping him unceremoniously onto Fluttershy's head as she leapt from the couch and marched toward the door.

The color immediately began draining from Twilight's face as she scrambled to keep up. "P-Princess? What's wrong? I'm so sorry if we offended you!"

"Offended...?" Luna stopped, the door knob already glowing in her magical grasp. "No, Twilight Sparkle. I am not offended."

Twilight gasped as she watched a tear roll down Luna's cheek.

"You four have spent this entire evening doing your best to make me feel welcome... and I am not so foolish as to believe that it has been purely at the behest of my sister," Luna explained. "So, then. Why? Why do you do this for me?"

"W... Why?" Twilight echoed, ears folded back. She turned to her friends, her heart sinking as she saw them looking just as shocked and confused as she felt. "Why wouldn't w - "

" _Because I tried to kill you, Twilight Sparkle!_ " Luna bellowed, whirling around to face Twilight. "You and all your friends! You should hate me even more than the townsfolk do - I tried to take their beloved sovereign away, and now they slam doors in my face! Yet you act as though I have done nothing wrong, offering me dinner, and dresses, and... bunny rabbits." She fell backward onto her haunches, looking exhausted. "I deserve none of this."

Silence followed this proclamation. No one knew what to say, if there was even anything to be said. Unfortunately, it was soon broken by Luna.

"I should have stayed up there."

Without waiting for a response, the distraught princess climbed up on all fours, willed the door open with her magic, flared her wings, and took off.

"Wait! Princess Luna...!" Twilight galloped to the doorway, but by the time she reached it, Luna was already out of earshot, fading into the darkening sky.

The room fell silent once again. Twilight staggered backward, showly shaking her head in disbelief; only when she felt Waterwing's hoof brush her side did she snap back to attention.

"I... I'm sorry, everypony," Twilight muttered. "This is all my fault..."

"Twilight, it is _not_ and you know it," Rarity insisted. "She just has to work a few things out on her own, that's all. It's not something we can fix."

<Not fix, but can still help.>

Fluttershy tilted her head at Waterwing's claim. "What do you mean?"

Waterwing turned to Twilight. <When is train?>

Twilight wiped at her watery eye with her foreleg and glanced at a nearby clock. "The train to pick her up will be here in less than an hour."

<Good!> Waterwing pointed at the doorway. <Back to tree. Must write!>

Twilight blinked. "You... want to write something?"

Waterwing nodded. <Too much word, not enough sign. Must write. Purple friend help.>

Twilight scratched her head. "I'm... not sure I understand."

<No time! Hurry!> With that, Waterwing hopped into the air and flew out the door, trailing three perplexed ponies in her wake.


	28. Episode 3-5

It was lucky, Luna decided, that her return train would be in so late.

The princess of the night sat alone on the deserted station platform, staring up at the moon as it bathed the land in its gentle light. It had already been some time since her return, yet seeing it from afar once again felt strangely unnatural. Was that simply due to how long she had been gone, or…?

She shook her head as Twilight and the others surfaced in her mind. Those ponies deserved a much better evening than the one they got, having to babysit a moody princess. What was the point of all this, anyway? She should have told Celestia to stuff it.

She should have stayed up there in the first place.

Her sister was doing fine without her. All of Equestria was doing fine without her. No one really needed her around for anything, did they? Maybe she could just -

No, she couldn’t simply flee anywhere; they would certainly come looking for her, which would only make things worse… so, then…

“Uh… Princess?”

Luna gasped as a small voice startled her, head darting about as she sought its source.

“Sorry if we spooked you.” Spike idly fiddled with the scroll in his claws for a moment before glancing over at Waterwing beside him, who gave him a simple nod. “Here, this is for you.”

Luna stared at the scroll. Hesitantly, she grasped it with her magic and floated it over for a closer look. Before she could bring herself to open it, however, she caught a familiar sight out of the corner of her eye: Waterwing was watching her intently, just as she had earlier. Luna frowned, lowering the scroll as she pondered the peculiar pony. Had Waterwing written this? What was it? Luna suddenly found herself apprehensive of its contents, but couldn’t quite summon the nerve to ask about it.

To her mild surprise, Luna soon realized the little pegasus was frowning, her ears folded back. With a quiet sigh, she looked down at the scroll, lifting it once again. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Waterwing’s expression brighten.

“…”

Luna set the scroll down and turned toward Waterwing. Sure enough, her frown and folded ears returned. Looking back down at the scroll caused them to spring back up in turn.

Under different circumstances, Luna might have laughed. Was she a pony, or a dog?

The princess sighed once more; her attempts at stalling were only fueling her apprehension. It was time to bite the bit and just see what all this was about. She unfurled the scroll and began reading.

_Dear Princess Luna,_

_Hi! :3 I know you know this already, but my name’s Waterwing! Sorry about the weird greeting before; I can’t really introduce myself the way other ponies do ~~but you probably figured that out by now~~_

_I guess I sorta owe you a couple of apologies, I think. I wasn’t super friendly at first because, well… when I saw you, the first thing I thought of was what happened during the Summer Sun Celebration, and I made my judgment before I knew more about what was really going on._

_I know you think you deserve to be treated badly after what you did, and I’m sorry you feel that way… but you’ve been punished enough by now. You spent a thousand years on the moon all by yourself - I can’t even imagine being alive that long in the first place! You must have been angry, and lonely, and confused…_

_…but continuing to beat yourself up for what you did isn’t the right thing to do. That won’t help anyone with anything, least of all you; all it’ll do is make you feel worse. Now is the time for making amends and working hard to become a better ~~person~~  pony than you were before, a pony worthy of forgiveness._

_Actually… I know this will seem weird after just saying that, but you can’t always count on others to forgive you when you hurt them. Sometimes they’ll forgive you right away, but sometimes it’ll take them a long time to stop being upset. Some just won’t ever forgive you no matter what you do, and you just have to accept it! None of that means you shouldn’t work hard to be worth forgiving._

_Just don’t forget that you also need to learn how to forgive yourself… because you’ll never be able to work past your mistakes if you let them define you._

_Long, long ago, there was a beautiful princess of the night who cast her gentle moonlight over all of Equestria, keeping the ponies of the land safe as they slept. That princess is asleep somewhere deep inside your heart, and only you have the power to wake her up. You were once a beacon shining in the darkness, and you can be that again if you try!_

_I know it’ll be hard, but you’re stronger than you know… and if you ever need help, you can count on us._

_Your friend, Waterwing_

As Luna lowered the scroll, a tear splashed onto the parchment; evidently she had begun crying again without noticing.

Waterwing stared at the princess, worry etched into every line of her face. Had she gone too far? Had she made it worse? Had she -

“Waterwing.”

It seemed she would get her answer in fairly short order as Luna finally spoke. “I… have one question.”

Waterwing tilted her head, making Luna even less certain that this pony was not inexplicably part canine.

Luna spent a moment wiping her tears before responding. “May I… have that hug now…?”

All of Waterwing’s tension melted away in a second as she nodded happily, and then gave a silent gasp: Luna was smiling. Through all the awkwardness, and the tears, and the self-doubt… at long last, Luna was smiling. It was a nervous, uncertain thing… but it was there, and it had been well worth the wait.

Waterwing fluttered over and embraced Luna, her smile broadening as she felt a pair of forelegs holding her close. For but a moment, all she cared about was the warmth - and the relief - she felt in finally getting to hug the heartache away.

“Princess…!”

So quietly did the other ponies approach that Waterwing’s heart skipped a beat as Twilight’s voice came from just behind her, prompting her to slowly let go of Luna and take a step back.

“Thank you, my little ponies.” Luna paused once again to wipe away tears. “At first I did not believe this visit would be of any benefit… and I am pleased to say I was wrong; my heart is ever so much lighter for having met you all. While I am not quite ready to let go of my guilt, I have made the decision to turn it toward something far more constructive than moping.”

Rarity beamed. “We are very happy to hear that, Princess.”

Luna shook her head slowly. “Please… if I may regard you all as friends, then call me Luna. It seems improper to ask my title of you after you have shown me such displays of kindness.”

“It’s… what we do.” Fluttershy fidgeted bashfully.

“And you in particular,” Luna added, turning to Waterwing once again. “Though I may hesitate to admit it… your words were everything I needed to hear.” She turned away, staring after the railroad tracks. “I only wish I had time this evening to offer more than my gratitude in return…”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Twilight interjected. “You’ve given us more than you realize.”

Luna quirked an eyebrow. “Er, have I?”

“You most certainly have.” Twilight turned to her assistant. “Spike?”

“Got it right here.” Spike held up a necklace with an empty heart-shaped setting.

Rarity’s eyes lit up the moment they caught sight of it. “Oh, how lovely! It looks like it’s missing a little something, though…”

Waterwing blinked as Spike placed the necklace over her collar. After staring at it for a moment, she began fidgeting with it impatiently, prompting Spike to hold it steady with his claw. Waterwing grinned sheepishly as she lowered her hoof.

Twilight smiled softly at Waterwing. “I have to admit, I wasn’t sure what you were about at first… but now, it seems so obvious. You take the time to understand other ponies and their troubles… you’re patient with them when they make mistakes or struggle with their flaws… and you forgive even those who have hurt you if it means helping them become better ponies in the end.” At this, she took a deep breath.

“Waterwing… you represent the Element of Love.”

Rays of light burst from the empty setting in Waterwing’s necklace as a yellow gemstone materialized within it.

Rarity smiled. “There, that’s just what it needed.”

Waterwing waited for the blinding glow to fade before looking down at her collar, where an Element of Harmony now sat glittering in the moonlight. For several seconds, all she could do was stare… until, slowly, her eyes began to water. As tears began leaking down her cheeks, she dashed forward and wrapped her forelegs around Twilight as tightly as they would go.

“Oof!” Twilight staggered backward from the high impact hug. With an amused giggle, she gave Waterwing a gentle pat on the back. “You’re welcome.”

“Um, wait…” Fluttershy glanced nervously between Waterwing and Luna, her cheeks turning visibly rosy. “Y-You… you don’t mean they… she and…?”

“No, no, of course not!” Twilight’s smile faded. “At least, I don’t think so…”

Waterwing finally let go of Twilight and took a step back, wiping the tears from her face. <Moon pony super pretty, but not right for me.>

Twilight spent a moment processing this statement before turning back to Fluttershy. “When we talk about love, it’s easy to assume we mean romance, but there’s so much more to it than that. Love comes in many forms, and everypony expresses it differently.”

A distant train whistle interrupted her thoughts.

“It seems our time is at its end.” Luna stood up, grasping Waterwing’s letter with her magic as she did so. “May I… keep this?”

Waterwing nodded.

Luna’s smile returned, a little more confident this time. “Thank you. Thank you again, all of you. I cannot tell you what this evening has done for me.”

“We’re just glad you’re feeling a little better now.” Twilight’s smile mirrored Luna’s.

Luna quirked an eyebrow, her lips curling into the faintest smirk. “And that you have not disappointed my sister, I would wager?”

Twilight winced. “W-Well, maybe a little…”

The next few moments passed wordlessly as the train pulled into the station, the door opening to permit its passenger. Luna started toward it, but stopped at the threshold to glance over her shoulder. Twilight waved a friendly farewell, Rarity gazed in awe at the train’s exquisite decoration, Fluttershy hid nervously behind her mane… and Waterwing simply smiled.

The princess of the night waved her own goodbyes before stepping onboard, looking forward to tomorrow for the first time in a thousand years.


	29. Short: "Contrivance"

"That was an unmitigated disaster."

"Well, I still had fun!"

"Of course you did."

"My dress is ruined...!"

"Yeah, but did you see the ball room?"

"I'm just glad we're not in trouble..."

Twilight stifled a giggle as she overheard her friends chattering behind her. There wasn't enough room at any of the booths in the Canterlot donut shop for all ten of them, so she and Princess Celestia decided to take one adjacent to the rest of the group, which suited her just fine; she'd been waiting all evening to have an uninterrupted one-on-one conversation with her mentor, and now she finally had her chance.

"Should I take this to mean the evening wasn't a total loss, then?" Celestia's smirk was almost uncharacteristically impish.

"Oh! W-Well, I mean, um..." Caught off guard, Twilight could only stammer in reply.

Celestia chuckled. "You needn't worry about the palace, Twilight Sparkle. The damage will all be repaired and cleaned up before long."

Twilight bit her lip as she glanced over her shoulder at the eight ponies in the booths behind her; if any of them were listening, they betrayed no hint of their awareness. "Are... you sure it's really okay, Princess?"

Celestia nodded slowly. "I've seen so many Grand Galloping Galas in my day that they have all begun to blend together in my head. While I might have hoped for perhaps a bit less mayhem, I was betting that inviting the nine of you this year would... liven things up a bit, and I am far from disappointed."

"Well, in that case..." Twilight slumped a little in her seat as the tension finally began to leave her body.

"There we go. There's no need to be nervous." Celestia tilted her head subtly, the better to encourage her pupil to make eye contact. "I'm proud of what you've accomplished so far, and I hope you are as well; I wasn't expecting you to progress this quickly."

"Neither was I," Twilight admitted. "I'd probably still be at square one if not for that book you sent me."

Celestia's smile broadened. It was just like Twilight to find the answer in a book. "I'm glad I could help. Which book was it, may I ask? I might like to have our scholars examine it more closely once you're done with it."

Twilight fiddled with the collar of her dress. "It was that weird one. 'Filgaia Fables,' I think? I meant to ask why you sent it separately by courier instead of in the royal mail with the rest."

Celestia blinked. "I... didn't send you any books by courier."

"W-What? I thought for sure..." Twilight's eyes widened as she reflexively glanced about the room. "But if you didn't send it, then who did? There was no return address on the package; even the courier herself didn't know where it had come from."

"How strange..."

Celestia's brow furrowed. Normally, her instinct would have been to exercise caution... but if the delivery of this mysterious book carried some ill intent, surely it would've made itself known by now? Even setting that aside, it sounded almost too convenient to be true, but...

"I'd still like to have a look at it later on, but in the meantime... if it has brought you success so far, then I don't think there's anything to worry about." That would do then, wouldn't it?

Sure enough, Twilight relaxed once again, causing Celestia's smile to return once again.

"Joe? Another round of donuts, if you please. Make mine glazed."


End file.
